Airbender's Child: Fire
by SCWLC
Summary: Life can be very hard when you don't know who you can trust, and you have to include yourself as untrustworthy. Last in the trilogy beginning with Airbender's Child: Water, then Airbender's Child: Earth. There is now a follow-up called AC: Other Perspectives.
1. Prologue

Title: Airbender's Child: Fire

Author: SCWLC

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and any and all dialogue and plot (which is a lot) cadged from the actual show makes it even less mine.

Summary: Life can be very hard when you don't know who you can trust, and you have to include yourself as untrustworthy.

Notes: Here is the prologue to the third, and last, 'book' of the Airbender's Child trilogy. I warn you now; I'm now working two part-time jobs, so my free time is much more limited than it used to be. For anyone coming to this series for the very first time, you'll want to read the first two 'books', Airbender's Child: Water, and Airbender's Child: Earth, otherwise you may well have some trouble following the story. To everyone else, we now enter the final 'book'. May the gods of fanfic have mercy on me and keep my muse from running off to penguin sled at the South Pole.

* * *

There had been a few constants throughout Zuko's childhood. The first was that his sister was always better than him at everything. The second was that his uncle Iroh and his mother were the only adults who thought anything of him, and they'd nearly ruined him according to his father and sister. The third had become mantra over the years. _Azula's always right_.

Prince Ozai, even before he ascended to the throne as Fire Lord, had always been publicly pleased with his son, as long as the boy was doing visibly better at his studies and bending than the other children his own age. Privately was another matter. In front of the family, he made sure to tell his son that the boy was inadequate because he was not a firebending prodigy like his sister. Better than average was not enough. He was supposed to be better than the average prodigy.

It never mattered when his sword instructors told his father that the young prince was a swordfighting prodigy, or that his history and calligraphy instructors declared him to have covered everything they had wished to teach him that year in the space of a few short months. All that mattered was that the boy's firebending, so important to the throne of the Fire Nation, fell below a reasonable level of skill for a member of the royal family.

Azula was another matter. She was perfect. That was all there was to it. While he was proud to be the brother of such a bastion of perfection as his sister, Zuko often wished his father would accept, at least a little, that his son was trying. He tried to shake that off, however. Whining about trying wouldn't get him anywhere and only proved the weakness that had been inculcated in him by his uncle and mother. His mother had petted him, made much of him, and ignored how wonderful her daughter was, and Zuko couldn't blame Azula for being a little bitter about it. After all, he was the weaker, really pathetic, of the pair of siblings. How his mother had chosen to encourage that remained a mystery.

Over the years, Zuko had allowed himself to be pushed from the position of Crown Prince, realising that he would never make an adequate Fire Lord, and relinquishing his position to Azula without a fight. He was perfectly happy to be used as a bargaining chip by the Fire Lord in creating a strengthened alliance within the nobility; he just hoped the alliance would be with his girlfriend's family.

They'd been dating since he was fourteen, and although he didn't always get her, she was just about the only person he had regular contact with who didn't look down on him automatically. It felt really nice, and for that alone, Zuko was absolutely devoted to her.

Several weeks before, while he'd been effectively alone at the palace and missing Mai for her affection and Azula for always being able to help him figure out new ways to try to impress their father, a letter had arrived from Azula. She'd been requesting that he join her to help with the final capture of the Avatar, Iroh and Ba Sing Se. Zuko had eagerly accepted, happy to have the chance to prove himself.

He had, it felt, but the whole thing had turned into a debacle of exceeding strangeness. Ever since he'd woken up after the illness he'd caught on the trip over, he'd felt strange. Whenever Azula said something, he'd wanted to debate the point. To argue with her. Only by reminding himself sharply that Azula was always right had he kept himself from saying anything untoward. His feelings for Mai had felt off as well. He knew he loved her. He had clear memories of telling her that, as well as feeling love for her. For some reason, however, they were both very uncomfortable with each other, and Zuko wondered if she'd had some harrowing experience chasing the Avatar that had changed her. That was probably it, and he was just being an insensitive clod.

It was what Azula had suggested, and Azula was always right.

There was also his odd degree of comfort with giving orders. For some reason, when Azula had fallen, he hadn't panicked, as was his wont, but had kept his head and managed to get everyone cleared out and moving, completing the overtaking of the city. Mai, at least, had been impressed, and Zuko had been rather handsomely rewarded for it in affection. So, despite Azula's warnings that he shouldn't get cocky, he'd decided to keep that outer confidence up. It was a risk, but the feeling it gave him was worth it.

Now that they were on their way back to the Fire Nation, he was also giving himself time to contemplate the things that were making him feel truly strange. The first was the woman who looked exactly like Azula, but was an airbender. He'd talked to her, and she'd first been all vitriol, then had started shouting the most incredible nonsense about fighting things and telling him he was better than . . . something, and not to prove their mother right. It all made him feel deeply uncomfortable, as though he'd done something wrong by supporting his sister's plan and trying to make their father proud.

After that he avoided her cell entirely, leaving the interrogation up to Azula.

The second thing was his dreams. He was having the strangest dreams about fur and the Water Tribes, flying and tea, fighting and dirt (of all things), and dreams of a girl pressed close to him that wasn't Mai. The last one made him feel particularly guilty, and perhaps contributed to her discomfort with their relationship, since Zuko kept overcompensating for his dreams about this other girl by being far more openly affectionate than Mai was comfortable with.

The third thing was the hallucinations he was sure he was having. Just one day after their ship pulled out of port for the Fire Nation, he'd started seeing something large, white and furry out of the corner of his eye. Sometimes from behind a cloud, sometimes vanishing behind a hill or outcropping as they passed islands and peninsulas. He felt like there was something very big intently following him, and he didn't dare tell anyone, lest they think he was paranoid and crazy. Equally disturbing? Every time he saw the whatever-it-was in the corner of his eye, it made him feel better.

Eventually they reached the Fire Nation and Zuko found himself home again. It felt completely alien, and he had to wonder what else had happened while he was sick.

It was then that he truly discovered how much he'd changed.


	2. Home

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: Okay, these are going to be kind of in line with the Fire season episodes, if only so that I can have a handle on _when_ we are, but without the gang's adventures to sort of mark time with, they may feel very divorced from the series. Also, I'm kind of trying to do a bunch of things in this chapter with no framework to hang them off of, so feel free to tell me if it feels fragmented. It's supposed to, a little, but I don't want to cause anyone metaphorical whiplash.

* * *

Upon arriving back home, Zuko found himself feeling like a stranger in his own home. It was crazy, and all he could think was that his illness had messed up something in his head to make him feel this way. As they all stood on the balcony overlooking the city, the balcony used for making speeches to the unwashed masses, Zuko felt uncomfortable. Annoyed with himself, he shook it off, telling himself that it was just that he'd never been a focus of one of these announcements before. Until now, his father and everyone else had basically brushed right past him at these events.

It was just stage fright. That was all it was, and it was beneath him, as a prince of the Fire Nation, to have stage fright. So he stiffened his back and tried to look emotionless, even if he couldn't look regal.

"Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's capital. In Ba Sing Se she and her brother, Zuko faced the Avatar. And the Avatar fell, and the Earth Kingdom fell." Li and Lo, as the two scary old witches usually did, bounced their words back and forth. Zuko absently wondered if they practiced like he and-

_What?_

He shook his head slightly. What was he thinking?

"Azula's agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se's Great Walls, and brought them down!" He'd had to sternly suppress his sympathy for the people of the city as that had happened. The inhabitants had been living a lie, told that there was no war going on outside Ba Sing Se, and the refugees had thought they were safe. The blind terror and the mothers clutching their children had been hard to watch. He'd only dared to say something to Mai, who had given him an absolutely freezing look and asked if he was truly feeling sympathy for the mud monkeys that made up the Earth Kingdom.

A five-year-old girl had screamed as her father, trying to keep soldiers out of their hovel-like home in the Lower Ring, was blasted backwards by the stone fists of the Dai Li, hitting the wall and slumping to the ground with blood trickling from his nose and mouth.

Zuko had taken a deep breath and turned his back on the chaos telling her that he didn't. For the rest of that day, every time he closed his eyes, he saw that tearstained little face pleading with her daddy to be okay. It was still haunting his tangled dreams, but he didn't dare to say anything to anyone now. Clearly there was just something wrong with him.

He refocused, realising he'd missed some of the speech, when he heard the two witches shout, "And proving his strength and courage to our nation, your prince, Zuko!"

He stepped forward, not bothering to try smiling, knowing the effort would be weak, at best, and instead just kept his face blank. It was safer than playing to the crowd. Especially while was distracted by trying not to clutch at his head to keep the images from overwhelming him.

And it was very overwhelming. The crowds, the noise, the smells and sights all added up to a cacophony of sensation that left him feeling breathless and a little queasy. Azula said into his ear, "It's quite something, isn't it, Zuzu."

"Don't call me that," he snapped. "Maybe I'm not worth your respect Azula, but I don't see how it helps the appearance of the royal family if you insist on publicly treating me like a particularly slow five-year-old."

She blinked. "But it's what I always call you, big brother."

"You don't care in the slightest that I'm your brother, Azula," he replied irritably. The whole scene of idiotic pandering to people who wanted big displays to prove the royal family were great leaders, rather than good policy, was leaving him a headache. "So just stop it. No one believes you care about me at all, except them," he jerked his head slightly in the direction of the still-cheering crowd, "And they won't if you insist on making me out to be the waste of space we all know I am."

The pain that had been a sort of generalised haze in his head spiked, and he abruptly turned on his heel and left for his rooms before he collapsed. He just barely made it past the guards and shut the door behind himself before he was on his knees, clutching at his temples, trying to keep his head from exploding.

Warm hands were clutching at him, holding him up and half carrying him to his bed. Something poked at his neck and back sharply and a little later the pain had eased enough that he was able to unball himself and open his eyes. Azula was sitting beside his bed, looking a little pale. "Why didn't you say anything about being sick, idiot?" she demanded. "I had to get Ty Lee in here to redistribute your chi. Something's got it blocked up strangely."

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Since when do you care, Azula?"

"Well . . . I . . . it doesn't look at that good if I can't even notice my own brother's got some sort of debilitating illness, does it?" she asked.

Zuko shook himself. Where was all this animosity coming from? Azula cared. She'd always helped him try to prove himself to father. It was his own failings that meant he hadn't. "I'm sorry. I just . . . I'm not myself right now."

"No," she said, looking at him oddly. "I suppose you're not." She left him there, going off to do whatever it was she had to do. Azula had duties after all. Unlike him, the useless one.

His head still hurt a lot, so he stayed on the bed, preferring the stillness and solitude he could have there, than the risk of the pain spiking again. He dozed for a while, strange dreams slipping in and out of his mind.

_There were three teenagers. The oldest boy spoke. "We're on a mountain with a crazy guy who thinks there are airbenders at the South Pole and in the Fire Nation of all places?"_

"_It means," the youngest of the three said, "That airbenders survived." He grinned happily. Eagerly he asked, "What do you mean by enclaves? Are there a lot? Are you an airbender? Why isn't anyone else here?"_

"_Aang," said the girl. "Just because the airbenders survived doesn't mean they're anything like they were before. He was angry because you were showing you're an airbender. It means it's probably really dangerous to do that."_

Zuko's eyes flickered open, focussing on his room. The snippet of dream felt so real he had to reassure himself he was at home not at . . . where had that been, anyhow? It felt so familiar; he must have been there before.

"_My frogs! Come back! And stop thawing out!" The boy, Zuko now recognised him as the Avatar, was scooping the half-thawed frogs up and trying to stuff them into his shirt._

"_I really don't want to know," Zuko told him as he grabbed the Avatar by the scruff of the neck and started towing him away._

_The Avatar looked at him anxiously, "But the herbalist said Sokka and Katara need to suck on them!"_

"_The . . . I still don't want to know," Zuko informed him. "Look. We're escaping right now. We'll get more frogs on the way back. Do you really think those frogs will still be frozen by the time we get to Katara and Sokka again anyhow?"_

"_I . . . I guess not," the boy said. "But shouldn't we pick them up? I mean, won't people think it's weird?"_

"_This from the guy who just said his friends need to suck on frogs," Zuko muttered back._

He was actually grateful when Mai prodded him awake. His mind was going to strange places. "Mai. What are you doing in here?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I came to check on my boyfriend. Sorry I didn't realise I'd be unwelcome." She started to get up, and Zuko grabbed her hand, wanting the distraction from his dreams.

"No, stay. Please," he said. "I just . . . I thought you'd be looking for something more interesting than me to pass the time."

She blinked, then said, "You're not boring, Zuko." There was a pause. "Well, not all the time, anyhow."

A smile stretched over his lips. "When am I not boring?" he asked, sitting up fully.

"Well," she said, smiling back, "You could be not-boring now."

"How's that?" he asked, leaning in closer.

Her face was inches from his as she breathed, "Like this," and then kissed him. It was warm and pleasant, and Zuko relaxed, letting himself stop thinking for a while. This was where he belonged. In the palace, with his girlfriend, father and sister. Everything was absolutely fine.

Mai let him hold her hand on the walk to dinner. It was a pleasant meal, for all that Azula was distracted by something, and Zuko relaxed, comfortable in the knowledge that he'd done well enough in Ba Sing Se his father ought to have nothing bad to say on the matter and everything was right in the world.

He was sitting by the turtle duck pond when suddenly the ducks alarmed, swimming off with a great ruffling of feathers. "You seem in a good mood," Azula observed.

Zuko turned to look at her, smiling. "I am. I'm home, I've got a wonderful girlfriend and I finally did something right enough that father shouldn't be angry with me. I was there to help you take the Avatar down," he said. "Why shouldn't I be happy?"

"Time was, you would have wanted someone to acknowledge that you were the one who personally led the troops to victory," Azula said. She looked a little disturbed.

"Time was," he told her, a little sharply, "I hadn't realised that I'm not cut out to be in charge," Zuko said. Why was she bringing this up? She'd always been the first to remind him he wasn't capable, and Azula was always right. "Acceptance brings peace. Or something like that," he told her.

Now she looked very perturbed. "You're not even going to _try_?" she asked, sounding quite upset.

"You're the one father wants on the throne after him," he reminded her, feeling his peace slipping away. "You're the one who always told me it should be you, not me. I've finally accepted that I'm just . . ." he trailed off, not even sure where he was going. "The point is, it doesn't matter if I was the one on the field, you were the one with the plan, you executed the plan, you brought the Avatar down, and all I did, with my substandard bending, was keep some little girl waterbender from being an unnecessary distraction."

Azula looked . . . sad. As though he'd said something . . . wrong. "Well," she said, clearly shaking off whatever mood she was in, "I've spoken to father, and I think he's quite pleased with you."

He felt pathetically eager as his head came up. "You think?" he asked.

His sister smiled at him. "I do," she said.

Still, the whole conversation was unsettling. Zuko was particularly worried because she had been acting so unlike herself. He crept after her, sneaking down hallways, staying out of sight and in the shadows. Azula left, making her way out of the palace, through the streets, eventually winding up at the prison where that woman who looked like her was housed.

Security on the way in was incredibly lax, and Zuko, feeling an odd sense of deja vu, was able to sneak in after her without alerting the guards. He was right, it turned out. Azula was visiting her doppelganger, and Zuko found a nook, close to the ceiling nearby, where he could perch reasonably comfortably, hear everything and stay out of sight.

" . . . Mother didn't care about either of you," the woman was saying as Zuko settled into his nook. "I know for a fact she didn't care a bit about Zuko. I was too blind to see it then, but she treated him like dirt. You were lucky, in a way. At least you could turn to your father for something."

"She was always petting him, always spoiling him," Azula said bitterly. "What do you know? She called me a _monster_."

Were they talking about his mother? Zuko shifted a little, hoping to get a better angle, maybe a decent view of one of them. He missed his grip, slipped, and landed hard at Azula's feet. "Ow."

"Zuko?" chorused two voices so alike, they almost sounded like one person speaking alone.

The woman in the cell looked at him, urgently. "Zuko, listen to me. I know you won't believe me, but you have to _think_. This isn't right, and you know it."

Azula sneered. "What's not right is that you're trying to convince him that things aren't the way they are. We're done here."

"I'll see you again, little sister," said the woman. "I . . . I'm sorry I haven't been there for you."

"Just stop talking," Azula snapped, grabbed Zuko's arm and dragged him off. "What were you doing?" she demanded.

"You've been acting oddly ever since we got back," he told her. "I'm not allowed to wonder what's going on? What's she been telling you?"

"Nothing," his sister said in irritation. "Just . . . ah! Nevermind! Father wanted to see you later. I was going to tell you when I got back."

He was towed to the palace, changed into clothes appropriate to go before the Fire Lord in, and found himself kneeling before his father. "I see your sister's efforts have . . . improved your disposition," the man said. "I am very . . . pleased, to hear of your actions in Ba Sing Se, my son. Perhaps you truly are worthy to be my son."

"Thank you, father," Zuko said.

"You may rise, Prince Zuko," said the Fire Lord. Zuko stood and looked his sire in the eye. "I expect to hear more good news of you."

"I will do my best, my Lord."

He was dismissed, but that interview capped the end of the day that ruined the good mood he'd had since he and Mai had made out in his bedroom that afternoon. By the time he went to bed that night, his headache had returned with a vengeance. He crawled under the covers, hoping that a good night's sleep would remedy the issue and he could get through the next day without drama or pain.

When he flipped over to look out the window, he was nearly startled out of his skin by an enormous white and grey animal head looking into his room. With a yell of shock, he tried to back away and get into a defensive position, wound up tangled in his bedclothes and only managed to fall out of the bed, slamming his already painful head into a small bedside table.

"Your highness!" several guards burst into the room. Naturally, there was nothing in the window.

Zuko just barely managed to get himself detangled before they noticed him, so that he wouldn't look like a _complete_ idiot. "I am still suffering from the aftereffects of an illness I picked up in Ba Sing Se," he explained. "The nightmares are . . . disturbing," Zuko said. "I apologise for the false alarm."

Only mostly like an idiot.

The guards left, and Zuko sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed. Was he going crazy?


	3. Relationships

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I know. This is short. However, I'm adapting The Beach next, and since that's a whole episode (which I promise not to do verbatim, but it's still a whole episode to do), I didn't want this chapter to get out of control. Also, you've all been waiting for a while for this, so I'm giving you an update now, when I have a completed chapter, rather than making you wait even longer. Thank you for your patience.

* * *

Sleep had helped in the short term, but Zuko found that it didn't help in general. Somehow, in the time he and Mai had been separated, something had happened that made them both awkward and fumbling with a relationship and friendship that had been in place for years. It was as though they were getting to know each other as romantic partners all over again.

Most likely, Zuko thought, it was his fault. Something strange and disturbing had happened to him while he was ill in Ba Sing Se. He felt different and it made no sense. Instead of the gratefulness he knew he should feel – could remember feeling with great clarity – towards his sister, all he felt was combative and annoyed.

With great determination he wrenched his attention back to his girlfriend. He wasn't being fair to her at all. They'd been sitting in the garden, talking, and Zuko had just completely lost the thread of the conversation. Rather than admit it, Zuko suddenly leapt to his feet. "Let's get out of here for a while," he said to her.

She blinked in surprise. "Out of the garden?" she asked, "Or out of the palace? The city? The Fire Nation?"

He smiled at her dry delivery. Not many people saw how funny she was because they thought a funny person needed to be somehow more expressive. Mai expressed herself just fine. "Just out of the palace for a while," he explained. "You, Ty Lee and Azula have all gotten to go everywhere. You've seen all sorts of things, and I've been stuck here." He grinned simply to keep himself from sounding bitter.

Mai heard it anyhow. "The next time your father needs Azula to be his right hand, she'll ask you. You were everything she needed in Ba Sing Se."

"Really?" he heard himself ask. He shook his head. This wasn't where he'd planned to go with this proposal. "Well, that's not what I was talking about. We can head up the volcano and have a picnic up there." When she gave him an irritated look, Zuko sighed. "I know you don't like picnics, but we'll have real privacy. No servants, no one to see us at all . . ." he trailed off meaningfully.

When she offered one her rare smiles, he knew he'd gotten it right. "I'll swing by the kitchens to get the food if you commandeer a few supplies for us," he said, smiling back.

Mai pecked him on the cheek and went off to order the servants around, while Zuko raided the kitchen. They met up at the gates and walked, hand in hand, up the path until they found a good spot to settle down in. Zuko laid out the blanket and their food, chivalrously holding a hand out to Mai to 'help' her down.

They sat, and Mai looked through the basket Zuko had purloined, a look of real surprise crossing her face as she pulled out one item. "Fruit tarts! With rose petals!" she said in honest surprise. "How did you know my favourite?"

He hadn't. He knew she liked roses and he knew she liked fruit tarts, so he'd snagged a few off the counter. "Lucky guess." Also . . . "They're my favourite too," he confessed.

She kissed him for a while, which was very pleasant. Then they ate, watching the scenery and the light change. Eventually the sun started to set and Mai commented idly, "Orange is such an awful color."

Zuko grinned, knowing a cue when he heard one. "You're so beautiful when you hate the world," he told her, leaning closer.

"I don't hate you," she said.

"I don't hate you, either," Zuko replied with a smile, and closed the gap. She sighed lightly into his mouth as they kissed, and Zuko relaxed into the feeling of his girlfriend pressed tightly against him, their lips pressed together and how perfect the moment was.

Suddenly there was a stab of pain from his temples and for a moment he didn't know where he was.

_Grabbing the girl's arm, he pulled her against him, and kissed her. She let out a startled squeak as he did so, her mouth opening under his. She felt startlingly pleasant pressed against him in the dark, and for a moment, he forgot all about wondering why they were doing this._

_Then he sensed a glow through his closed eyes, and pulled away, staring upwards, startled._

The sky wasn't glowing green with phosphorescent crystals. It was still the colours of a sky at sunset, and Zuko pressed his fingertips to his temples to try and speed the pain away as it began to ebb. "What happened?" Mai demanded.

"I just . . . my head started to hurt all of a sudden," Zuko said, baffled. "Then I . . . I think I hallucinated."

"Hallucinated?" Mai asked.

Zuko finally managed to straighten up. "Yeah. I thought . . . we were in a cave, or . . . I don't know." One thing he did know, he wasn't going to tell Mai he'd been kissing someone else in his hallucination.

She sighed. "I suppose it would be too much for you to be over whatever it was you caught in Ba Sing Se."

Zuko felt the sting of her blame. "I'm sorry."

When she replied, "It's okay," he knew it wasn't. Why did everything he did have to just mean he messed up more?

Before he could try to apologise for screwing up again, Azula arrived. "Zuko, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Mai bristled ever-so-slightly and said, "Zuko and I were in the middle of something, Azula."

"Oh, Mai," said his sister. "Ty Lee needs your help untangling her braid."

"You should go," Zuko said, hastily. Whatever Azula wanted was more important than him, and he had to remember that. He'd been forgetting all too often, lately. He made a mental note, again, to pay better attention to Azula. Azula was always right. Mai shot him a sideways look, then gathered herself to leave.

As she reached the path, she turned and said to Azula, "You know, you don't have to control _everything_." She shot a significant look at Zuko as she said the last word, then left.

"What was that about?" Zuko asked, baffled. Then he shook his head. Whatever that was, it was between Mai and Azula, and if he'd ask Mai later about the look she'd aimed at him. "Nevermind. What did you need, Azula?"

His sister looked uncomfortable, then said, too abruptly, "Do you suppose, with the burn-out in Cheng-Dhu, we've gotten most of the last Air Nomads?"

Zuko frowned a little. That question set off alarm bells in his head on a lot of levels. Not only had they had no discussion of anything to do with the last dregs of the airbenders over the last few weeks, Azula had never particularly cared about the, 'Witless, airheaded wastes of bending,' that were the Air Nomads, either way. Her sudden interest meant something had happened to make her interested. Either their father was planning some particular campaign against them, or . . .

"How have your visits with our older sister been?" he asked, trying his best to sound casual.

Perhaps on someone else it could have been counted no reaction, but Zuko had grown up with Azula, had watched her mask improve and knew all the miniature tells she had. They were few, and her ability to lie was unsurpassed, but even she could be surprised into revealing something. "Have you been spying, Zuzu?" she asked, crooning the nickname he hated so much.

"No," he replied, frankly. Yelling at her about how much he hated that she treated him like a brain-damaged five-year-old would get him nowhere. "You just gave it away. What other reason would you have to be asking about airbenders?"

"How are you so sure she's our sister?" Azula demanded. When he just looked at her, silently asking if she really needed to ask why he believed them related to a girl who might as well be Azula's twin, she let out a hiss of annoyance. "You don't think our mother might have had an affair?" she tried.

Zuko shrugged. "Maybe. But I know our parents had a child before me. People said she was stillborn."

Azula's eyes were wide. "How do you know that?" she demanded.

"I . . ." How did he know that? He knew it unequivocally, the way he knew the names of all the Fire Lords in chronological order from the first, Lord Pauzon, rumoured to have been placed on the Fire Throne by Agni himself, to the latest, their father, Lord Ozai. He couldn't recall which tutor he'd learned those facts under, or which scrolls he'd memorised the names from, but he knew them. Likewise, he knew he'd heard of their older sister from somewhere, but he didn't know where. "I must have overheard one of father's ministers talking about her at some point."

She gave him an oddly suspicious look, but just said, "Why didn't I hear about this?"

He shrugged. "It was two years before I was born and people weren't supposed to talk about it. You know father would never have wanted any speculation that the royal family had any such imperfections as would lead to a miscarriage." Before Azula said anything else, Zuko told her, "Look, I know it's not my business, and you probably know better, but I don't think you should talk to her, any more."

"Why not?" his sister snapped. "You think I can't handle an _airbender_?" Disdain dripped from the last word.

"It's not that," Zuko said. "It's just . . . you've been acting a little . . . differently, since we came home. She's the only thing that's different around here, so . . . just . . . be careful," he urged her.

For a moment, Zuko thought she might say something meaningful. Azula just took a breath, pulled herself together and sneered, "If anyone needs to be careful, it's you, clumsy." Then she turned on her heel and strode off, leaving Zuko feeling very off-balance.

Regretfully, he gathered up the remnants of what had been a pleasant picnic and started down the path after his sister. He hadn't gotten far when something whipped overhead and landed with a thud behind him. With a shout of startlement, Zuko dropped everything and whipped around. Standing on the path behind him was an enormous animal covered in white fur, with six legs, horns and a giant tail.

There was a sky bison on the trail with him.

Zuko froze, unsure of what to do. Some instinct told him this wasn't the Avatar's bison. So who's was it? Why was it here? What did it want? A thought suddenly occurred to him. How impressive would it be if he caught this one and trained it to his needs and wants? Perhaps he could impress father with a sky bison. They were supposed to be formidable airbenders, and having a mount that could bend in a fight would be a tremendous advantage. Perhaps his father would let him onto the front lines like Lu Ten and he'd be able to do better than his cousin and bring glory to the Fire Nation that way.

So he dropped his aggressive stance and hesitantly moved a little forward. He did it slowly, so as not to startle her. If she was one of the very few wild bisons left it would take a long time to train her and he had to be careful not to upset her.

She could be one of the ones the last Nomads had, though. There was very little information in the archives, generally, on the Nomad enclaves, only that one had to keep an eye out for them, but Zuko knew from somewhere that they had bisons. He couldn't recall either, which scrolls had described the way that a female bison's horns had a particular slant back, in contrast to the male horns that tilted a little forward, and how the stripes and arrows on a bison were thicker on the male by a good bit, as compared to the females. He knew, though, and this one was female. Hesitantly, he said, "Hey there." He took a few careful steps forward, braced to get out of her way if she charged, bended, or tried to do something that might need him to dodge.

She made an odd rumbling noise and, quite delicately for an animal that was so big, stepped forward and licked him.

"Ew."

She rumbled again, and he was pretty sure she was laughing at him. However, since he didn't dare do something to scare her off, he smoothed his face out and took the last few steps forward. Feeling very daring, he laid a hand on top of her nose, and was rewarded by her nudging against him.

Suddenly, a voice came from just behind the curve in the path, and Zuko was startled when the giant creature leapt into the air, moving so quickly she seemed to vanish, and was gone by the time Mai had come into view. "What was that?" Mai asked. Then she seemed to get a good look at him. "What happened to you?"

What was he supposed to say? He went with his first instinct, which was to hide the bison from everyone. "I . . . there was a monkey. And then it . . . it got upset . . . the monkey. It um . . ." he gestured vaguely, not even sure _what_ he was implying and just hoping someone else would make up a story for him.

Mai had an idea, all right. "Oh my . . . Zuko! No! Don't touch anything! Just go back to the palace and have a bath and put on clean clothes!" She marched past him, muttering about the filthy habits of monkeys and why they couldn't be more like bear dogs and just mark trees.

Nothing loathe to get the bison spit off him, Zuko hurried back to the palace and a bath. Next time, he promised himself, he'd come up with a less disgusting story. He'd just keep the bison a secret until he'd gotten it properly trained as a battle mount. Then he'd impress father. He just had to make sure it was a surprise.

Since he didn't know what to make of it, he refused to think about just how happy being licked by the bison made him.


	4. The Beach

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I know, I know, where the hell have I been, and fluff doesn't count. It's just been a tiring couple weeks and r/l was a bit bitchy. I lost some momentum on this. I'll try to pick it up, but this section of the fic that I'm in is . . . well . . . less plotty and more character-y. So, I'm trying not to turn this into, "Zuko sits around and thinks a lot." But enough about that. Here's the next instalment, and I hope it was worth the wait, I'm sorry if it wasn't.

* * *

A few weeks passed and, soon enough, Zuko discovered that the bison was simply hiding from everyone but him. She seemed to trust him and it too very little time for him to discover that his clever bison had found the perfect hiding places to meet. They were easily accessible from the palace's secret passage exits, allowed for discreet escapes by air, and were remote enough that they wouldn't be caught by anyone.

He'd found pictures in the library of sky bisons with odd saddles on their backs, designed to carry people, but he hadn't been able to find the texts he knew he must have read that explained how to piece together saddles and straps for riding a bison. He'd even asked the old man who was the librarian for the palace where to find such scrolls, and the man had only looked at him askance, asking where he thought the information would have come from. Zuko had only just bitten back the response that, since he knew all this information, it must have been somewhere in the palace.

Since he was already getting odd, sideways looks from Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, the servants – pretty much everyone at the palace – Zuko decided to let it go and set himself to looking in other places. The fact that he couldn't recall how he knew these things, only that he did, was very disconcerting.

On top of all that, he was still suffering from the disturbing dreams that felt all too real. He'd dreamt of having a friend, his own age and gender, the way Azula did.

"_You just want to play walking dead again, don't you?"_

"_It's a benefit."_

The scene blurred and then reset in another time and place.

_There was a sudden thudding behind him and he turned to see a grouchy-looking Water Tribe teenager in the saddle behind him. "I didn't mean I wanted to be tossed from Appa to Shuga _while we're flying_, Aang!" he shouted toward the innocent-looking Avatar. _

"_What . . ." Zuko trailed off._

_The boy in blue leaned back against the back of the saddle. "That was some pretty awesome bending down there," he said._

"_I'm not good enough," Zuko snapped back. "I'll never be as good as her."_

"_So that was the little sister, huh?" the other asked carefully._

_He closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah. That's my sister Azula," he said. "Crazy, evil and . . . a damn firebending prodigy. She's just . . . so good at everything."_

"_You seemed to be handling yourself fine out there," his friend said._

"_She was letting me," Zuko said in irritation. "It's what she always did. Make me think that maybe I'd finally caught up, then she'd just . . ." He waved a hand in the air._

_Behind him, Sokka said, "I don't know. From where I was sitting, you'd backed her into that corner, you had a barrage going she could only block and not retaliate, and I'm pretty sure I saw you use that waterbending thing where they catch something thrown at them and wing it right back. I mean, unless you're able to make blue fire like her, which would be pretty impressive too."_

Another blurring, another resettling.

"_What? Where! Where!" Sokka demanded, panic making him spin around like a ferret dog chasing its tail._

_Zuko leaned back. He could watch this for hours. The Water Tribe girl spoiled his fun by telling her brother, "Where do you think?"_

_Sokka sourly pulled the thing off his elbow, tossing it back into the swamp. Then he caught the look on Zuko's face. "Why didn't anything bite you?" he grumbled._

"_Because-"_

_She stopped his fun again. He never got to say that it was because "Suckered animals wuuuuuuv you," the way he wanted._

"_Because Lee managed to land us out of the water," she said sharply._

_While she went ahead to consult with Aang, Sokka gave him a suspicious look. "What were you gonna say?"_

"_Why would you think I was going to say anything else?" Zuko asked, trying to blink innocently at his friend._

"_Do you have something in your eye?"_

He woke, amused and disturbed at the same time. The water tribesman felt familiar. But the only member of the Water Tribes he'd ever met was the girl under Ba Sing Se. She'd been in his dream, too. In fact, now that he thought about it, those odd flashes he'd been having after kissing Mai – the ones of him kissing a girl who wasn't Mai – were all about him kissing that girl.

How did he even know the boy's name, he wondered.

It never occurred to Zuko that the Water Tribesman had any name other than Sokka, or even whether he had anything to do with the Avatar or the waterbender.

A few weeks of this and suddenly they were all packed off to Ember Island for an enforced vacation. Ty Lee was enthusiastic, but she seemed to be the only one. Zuko couldn't shake the feeling they were being sent off for reasons other than the stated, 'well-earned rest', Mai clearly seemed to resent the intrusion into her life and Azula . . .

Azula had continued to act odd lately. She was blowing hot and cold with everyone, all the time. She'd be nasty one minute, sweet the next. She'd try to trip Mai up, then she'd arrive on the scene with pastries and new senbon to make it up. She'd sparred with Zuko and laughed when he, for some crazy reason, had thought he'd get lightning this time and wound up lightly smoking with his hair crimped and frizzed from the blast that sent him into the wall. Later that same day she'd walked him through the process of making lightning slowly and carefully until he'd come so close to managing it that she'd smiled and said he was making great progress.

He'd even seen her kowtowing to their father, then later talking back to him with an insolence that Zuko knew she'd only gotten away with because of how very much their father favoured her.

He had his suspicions, mostly relating to the fact that she had continued to visit their sister in prison, but he had no idea what the woman was telling her, or why. It all left him rattled and in a bad temper.

So when Ty Lee started to enthuse about how much fun Ember Island must have been for him and Azula as children, he deliberately tried his damndest to take the wind out of her sails. "That was a long time ago," he said bleakly. He felt bleak. Mai, for all that she was his girlfriend, didn't help in the slightest. She just stood there, morose.

As they pulled up to the docks, Zuko saw that Li and Lo were waiting for them. Inwardly he shuddered. Those two old bats were just plain creepy. "Welcome to Ember Island, kids," they said. Zuko wondered if, just once, the pair could try talking as though they were two individuals and not one person split between two bodies. Then again, he mused as they struck a pose that might have been sexy in their youth, but was just plain icky now, perhaps they really _were_ one person in two bodies. Stranger things had happened. If there was a demon that could steal people's faces just because they had a facial expression around him, surely it was possible for there to be one mind divided between two bodies.

Then they stripped off their robes to reveal matching swimwear on those old, decrepit bodies, and Zuko decided it was just too vile to even contemplate. As the bile rose in his throat, Mai's hand came up to cover his face. "Thank you," he said.

"No problem," she replied. "I'd hate to get this dress dirty."

An hour later they were down at the beach, the girls in various states of undress for swimming, while Zuko was wearing a robe over the bathing suit Ty Lee had declared, "So cute!"

As much as Zuko enjoyed the affirmation that he was his father's son inasmuch as girls found him attractive, there was something off-putting about Ty Lee's enthusiasm. Mostly because, although there had been some talk about marrying him off to the girl (similar talks had been conducted about Mai and several other girls his father had wanted to solidify family alliances with) Ty Lee was too much like a sister to him. A different kind of sister than Azula was, but a sister nonetheless. The whole thing felt awkward.

"_By the way, if it came down to it, I wouldn't mind marrying you."_

"_Oh?" Zuko asked the blind girl in surprise. "How come?"_

"_I heard you telling the other two about love and marriage in the upper classes," she explained. "I think . . . I think we'd get along if it came down to it."_

_He grinned, and said, "You do realise that Sokka's a savage, Aang's an optimist and Katara's just crazy?"_

"_Eh," she said and flopped down to pick at her bare feet with her fingernails. "I'm not all that civilised either. I just pretended with my parents."_

_Watching her prod at some pretty disgusting things caught between her toes, Zuko gagged and said, "I can believe it."_

The images hit him with the force of a runaway tank and Zuko found himself dropping the parasol he was holding over Mai's head and falling to his knees, clutching at his painful temples.

Warm arms wrapped around his shoulders, supporting his weight. "If you wanted to stop carrying the parasol, all you had to do was say so," Mai's deadpan delivery reached his ears.

"Sorry to be an inconvenience," Zuko snapped. Even as the words left his mouth he knew they were wrong. Mai just had a very dry sense of humour that could be piqued at the oddest times. "Mai, I-"

Her face was blank and emotionless as she said, "Don't worry. You weren't doing anything indispensible anyhow."

Zuko felt his own face go blank. "Since I'm so dispensible, perhaps I'd better leave you to your own devices." He turned sharply and left the girls to do whatever they were going to do on the beach. He knew that both he and Mai were simply snarling at each other for no good reason and they both were feeling hurt by the exchange.

That didn't help the hurt feelings on his part as he dragged his aching head away to his bedroom in the hopes of easing the pain. He collapsed onto the mattress and curled into a ball, letting the pain wash over him. He managed to drift into sleep, but his dreams were more confusing than ever, filled with memories of his uncle he'd never made and friends he'd never had. When he finally woke, he was confused for a moment. Just as confused as that first time he'd woken in Ba Sing Se after his illness.

He blinked slowly and then squawked, falling off the bed. Azula had perched herself on his bed, staring at him from about two inches away. It was a somewhat disconcerting way to wake up. "Azula?" he gasped from the floor. "What are you _doing_?"

"I was wondering about you and Mai," she told him. "What happened? You both seemed to be getting along so well, and then one migraine and you've all but broken up."

Zuko sighed. "I just snapped at her for making a joke when I was hurting too much to find it funny, then she snapped at me for snapping at her," he said. "I'll apologise, tell her I think it's all my fault even though we were both oversensitive and it'll blow over."

An odd look crossed Azula's face. "Why should you pretend she had no fault in it?" she asked.

"Because most things _are_ my fault?" Zuko suggested. "Anyhow, Mai's the only girl I know who'll put up with me. The fact that she's attracted to me at all is more than enough."

"They're _not_ your fault," Azula said, sharply. Suddenly a bitter laugh escaped her. "They're out parents' fault. Our mother's for deciding I wasn't worth her time, and our father's for never giving you a chance to prove yourself."

"Azula-"

She talked right over him. "What is so wrong with me that our mother would just . . . call me a monster?"

"Nothing's wrong with you," Zuko denied. "Mother just . . . didn't see you clearly, and she . . ." he trailed off, because there was something that felt wrong about describing his mother's behaviour as doting or loving. A flash of memory slipped by him.

"_While you are here with me, I expect you to keep your firebending mouth shut so that I do not have to deal with your unsavoury tendencies, Zuko."_

Zuko shook his head briefly. "My point is, our father had the good judgment to see which of us was worth his extra time and encouragement. There are black koala sheep in every family." He shrugged. "I guess that's my role."

There was a long pause, then Azula seemed to come to a decision. "Aiko makes some very good points when I talk to her." She started.

"What?" Zuko snapped, disbelieving. "Why have you been talking to her? She's . . ." he searched for words, which came easily suddenly. "She's self-centred, arrogant, she thinks that firebenders are the most inferior of all the benders, that we're somehow too stupid to know better or right from wrong. She's aggravating and it's all I can do not to knock her over the head with something and prove her right when she gets on her high ostrich horse about things."

"But she doesn't expect me to do, or be, anything in particular," Azula said. "You and father, you both just see me as perfect, and mother always saw me as-"

"You are annoying," Zuko said flatly. "You poke and prod and push and irritate and then laugh when I screw up because you made me so angry I couldn't concentrate. I know that it's because I'm a failure, but it's damned annoying, Azula. I don't see you as perfect, I see you as . . . as everything father wants me to be and I'll never be."

Azula's eyes lit with fervour. "Then I'll stop. Tell me when I'm doing it and I'll stop. Zuzu – _Zuko_," she corrected herself, sharply. "We can be great together. When you put your mind to it, you're strong and brilliant and everything I'd want at my right hand as Fire Lord. Father will make me Fire Lord after him, and you'll be my second." She seemed to wilt a little. "Aiko made some very good points, Zuko. I don't want to be alone like Father and Mother."

Her ambitions seemed to pour out of her. They made Fire Lord Sozin's desire to bring the world under the power of the Fire Nation seem almost petty. For a moment, Zuko was caught up in her words. He'd always wanted Azula's regard, to be her brother in more than just name. Aiko had brought them together and he was grateful for the chance. But as everything tumbled out of her, he began to feel disturbed. There was something frightening in her fevered eyes and the manic smile on her face.

He was grateful when she was distracted by Ty Lee and fled through the marketplace, finding himself an isolated place to hide from everything. It was there the bison found him.

Zuko didn't even pause, just climbed up onto her back and flopped down on his stomach, both hands soon occupied with scratching at two points on her shoulderblades. She made a happy rumbly sound and flopped down. "Hey girl," he said. "I'm glad to see you. You're the least confusing part of my life right now, you know?"

An inquiring groan issued from beneath him.

"I told you all about my girlfriend, Mai-"

The bison had decided opinions on Mai, and never hesitated to make them known by making rude noises at the mere mention of her name.

"Well, that's what you think. No one asked you to date her."

A bad-tempered-sounding grumble was the reply.

"I'm sure you'll be happy to hear we had a fight. I mean, it's my fault, but we've been dating for three years, I thought she'd know me better. At least enough to know when I'm trying to apologise. Especially after she'd made that crack when my head was hurting so much."

Suddenly his comfortable perch bucked and rolled under him, sending Zuko rolling to the ground. He found himself the object of intense bison scrutiny as she nosed all over him, clearly making sure he was okay.

"I'm fine now," he said, trying to reassure her. "It was just a really bad headache."

Somehow, that bison face spoke volumes of scepticism about that.

"Really," he told her firmly. "I know I'm having a lot of those lately. They're just . . . aftereffects of whatever it was I had in Ba Sing Se."

She rolled her eyes and flopped back down, nudging at him with her nose. Zuko took the hint and climbed back on.

"I just . . . Azula's starting to really worry me. She's never been affectionate, but it's like she . . . like she's trying to make us into a perfect sibling pair. I wouldn't mind, but it's like it's also all part of some weird, terrifying plan to conquer the world, or something. I don't know." He mused aloud. "This Aiko woman-"

A disdainful snort had Zuko looking down in surprise. "I hadn't told you about her, how can you have an opinion? Wait . . ." he suddenly realised something. "She's an airbender. Did you know her from an airbender enclave?"

The big head nodded.

"Wow." He shook himself. "Anyhow, she's been saying things to Azula, and they're having an effect. I just don't know what it is." He frowned. "It's like Azula's trying to develop all those family bonds and things that she always said were a sign of weakness, but it's all filtered through . . . through how she normally sees the world."

An inquisitive noise made Zuko smile wryly. "I don't know what to do, Shuga. I mean, there's Mai, who's completely changed, Azula, who's changing, and I keep having these dreams about the Avatar and his friends." He flopped onto his back. "It doesn't help that my dreams keep insisting that the waterbender is a better kisser than Mai." He rolled over and started scratching Shuga again. "Do you suppose it's just the lure of the exotic?"

She made a dismissive noise.

They were interrupted by the sound of approaching people, and Zuko leapt off her back and Shuga took off to hide just in time. A moment later, Ty Lee, Azula and Mai all appeared around the trees.

He was dragged to a party, an uncomfortably cathartic meeting on the beach and found himself joining in on the destruction of some poor unfortunate idiot's home. By the time they were all piling onto the ship to take them home, he felt more confused than ever. He and Mai had made up, but it all felt very uncomfortable. Like they were strangers playing at a relationship. The only thing that made him feel better was the glimpses he caught of Shuga lurking behind clouds the whole way home.


	5. Persistence of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: To Castlejune, I made a quick fix to the sentence you noted. Thanks for pointing that out. To everyone else, no I haven't abandoned this just because I'm writing at a snail's pace all of a sudden. Actually, a small bit of the delay was my making a snap decision to move one thing to a totally different chapter. So, there you go. Anyhow, those who delight in Mai-bashing will, I suppose, take some joy from this section. Those who like Mai, all I can tell you is that I'll probably try to make it up to you at some point. I really don't want her to be a cardboard cutout of bored, almost-but-not-quite-evil.

* * *

"_Why weren't you angry that the Mechanist was working for the Fire Nation?" Aang asked._

_Zuko shot him an annoyed look, then reined himself in. "You recall what the Southern Air Temple was like, right?"_

_Aang nodded sadly. "Yes. But what-"_

"_It has everything to do with it Aang," Zuko told him. "He loves his son, and he wants to protect his people. He's an inventor, not a warrior. Not everyone is able to fight back."_

"_But his weapons are killing people," Aang insisted._

"_Answer this for me," Zuko said. "Who do you care about more? Katara and Sokka, or a bunch of faceless people you'll never meet or know? He _knew_, absolutely _knew_, that his son would die horribly if he didn't comply." Zuko added, "And not just his own son, but all the people here."_

_There was a long silence. "Katara doesn't think he should have compromised," Aang said._

"_Katara holds other people to a very high standard," Zuko said dryly. "Not everyone is able, I mean, as a person, to meet those standards. That's why some people are sages, some are warriors and some are farmers._

"_And sometimes," Zuko added, as he admiringly watched Katara and Sokka efficiently work together to raise morale and organise the resistance, "People need someone who can lead them." He turned to Aang. "The Mechanist would be a good peacetime leader or headman. He cares for his people and is willing to do a lot to protect them."_

_Aang slowly nodded in understanding. "That's why I'm here, isn't it? To do those things for people so they don't have to do things they're not meant to."_

Zuko sat bolt upright in bed, panting. There was a vague sense of a receding headache, but he was distracted from it by the dream. It felt real. It felt like something he'd actually seen and done and said.

More than that, he was having an ever more difficult time pushing the awareness of the war's effects from his mind. He had known, before Ba Sing Se, that people on the opposite side of the war had been affected, but the sight of the terrified people had struck some chord in him, making him feel guilty for the actions of his people. The dreams he was having, night after night, were making it no easier to make that guilt go away. Dreams about seeing homes destroyed and people fleeing for their lives before the Fire Nation forces made his nights a terror. Intellectually he'd always known there were casualties in the war – civilian casualties – but he'd never had it truly pointed out how horrible it was to attack those targets.

The blackmail was no better. He couldn't remember where he'd heard about it, but that Mechanist was the basis of half the Fire Nation's weapons. The man was being blackmailed into working for the Fire Nation out of fear for his son and his people's lives. It wasn't right. Clearly his mind had latched onto this knowledge, brought to the forefront of his mind by whatever had been damaged in his illness and was making up dreams where Zuko interacted with Avatar Aang. That had to be it.

They just felt really real.

He went to breakfast, and there was Azula. "Good morning, Zuko."

"Morning," he said, shortly.

She looked at him with concern. "Are you okay? You seem a little . . . upset this morning."

He sighed, dropping into his seat and letting the servants serve his breakfast. "You'd think the dreams would go away," he said. "Those nightmares I started having in Ba Sing Se just won't stop coming," he told her. "I just . . ." He decided to go ahead and say something. "Don't you think this war is just . . . ridiculous?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

Zuko made a face. "What I mean is that we're wiping out whole villages to take over the whole of the Earth Kingdom, and why?"

Azula shot him a baffled look. "Because it is our destiny as the greatest of the four nations to control the fate of the world," she said, as though stating the obvious to a stupid child.\

"Assuming that we _are_ the greatest nation," Zuko said, "Which seems a little presumptuous, we nearly wiped out the Southern Water Tribe for what reason? They never did anything to us, never threatened us, and there's nothing there we want, or need. What's the point?"

It was a question he'd always wanted answered. What was the _point_ of the war?

Sighing, Azula told him, "Sometimes I wonder about you, Zuko. The point is power. To have the power to control the fate of the world. We can't do that if there are savages at the poles and silly airbenders zipping around fomenting rebellion. Anyhow, they're resisting us because they're not smart enough to see how we'd get them out of their ridiculous savage ways."

"How savage do you think they are?" he asked her, sceptically. "They have some amazing healing skills among the waterbenders, and the North Pole is as large and sophisticated as city as our capital or Omashu."

Azula shot him a look. "Omashu's king is a crazy old man."

"Just because the king is crazy doesn't mean everyone else are savages," he countered. "Their mail system alone is very impressive."

"How do you know about their mail system?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

Zuko shrugged. "Same way I know about most things from outside the palace, I guess," he said. "I must have read it in the library some time. I mean, I spent a lot of time there, you know."

"Right," said Azula, looking . . . a little odd. "The library. How could I forget?"

"What is wrong Azula? Is this about what Aiko's been telling you? You've kept on visiting her, haven't you?" Zuko demanded. "Listen to me. I know everyone thinks I'm a failure and that I don't know anything, but I know her and she's just going to get you all twisted up. You're not acting like yourself."

His sister flinched. "You mean I'm not calling you stupid and acting like you have nothing worth saying," she said. "Zuko, she's . . . she's made a lot of things clear. If father wanted you to be the son he felt he should have had, he needed to do more to make you into that." She shook her head. "She may have this crazy idea that the Fire Nation should stop fulfilling its destiny, but she's right about our family. I want you with me when we conquer the world," Azula told him. "You were incredible in Ba Sing Se, and I'm just sorry it took some pathetic airbender to make me see it."

"Azula . . ." he trailed off. He didn't know, in the slightest, what to do with this. His sister had never been like this. She'd always mocked him, taunted and teased him for his ineptitude, for having their mother's so-called affections.

That last thought shook him. So-called affections? Their mother had petted him, made much of him and had loved him deeply where she had just barely tolerated Azula. But why did he feel like that was a lie? He had no evidence of it.

Save a few dreams.

Zuko shook it off. He'd figure it out later. "How long will this affection last, Azula?" he asked her suspiciously. "You've never cared that much . . ." He paused, frowning in thought, then added, "Well, not since you were four. That was when you decided I wasn't worth your time because father said so. Tell me, if I keep trying to convince you that this war is a bad thing will I lose you all over again?"

Her lips pressed together for a moment. "No. I . . . you're my brother," she said. "I don't think Father ever understood that with Uncle. I'm not going to make the same mistake."

Somehow their arms went around each other, and Zuko sighed as the little sister that he'd thought he'd never see again hugged him. "Just . . . be careful," he told her.

"I will, Zuko."

The moment he saw her off, however, he was off like a shot. He needed to talk to Aiko. He needed to know what she was telling Azula and he needed to be sure she wasn't going to get his younger sister into the kind of trouble he'd found himself with their father.

"_You will fight for your honour."_

Zuko paused, shaking his head. Where had that come from?

"_Please, father, I only had the fire nation's best interest at heart! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"_

He'd pleaded his way out of the worst of his father's wrath, but had been declared a useless waste of space in return.

_Raw, pained screams echoing in the open space of the arena. He didn't know who was screaming until the backhand across his face took his breath away and silencing him. Then he passed out._

He clenched his jaw and forced the memories . . . thoughts . . . whatever they were, back down. He'd deal with it all later. Maybe he needed to talk to a healer. There had to be something that would make these flashes go away. Right now though, he was going to talk to Aiko.

Zuko marched up to her cell, ordering the guards away and snarled through the small window on the door, "What have you been telling Azula?"

"Just that we're her brother and sister and that we both care about her," the woman told him. The words, spoken so matter-of-factly from a face that looked so much like Azula threw Zuko for a loop, briefly.

His lips pressed together in annoyance. "She's changing, thanks to you. The things she's saying, the way she's acting, do you want her to wind up on the wrong side of our father? Like I did?"

Aiko sighed. "Just because the Fire Lord isn't happy with his children doesn't mean he can disinherit you both."

"You think there haven't been the children of concubines making it to the throne in the past?" Zuko asked her, sharply. "I can name six off the top of my head."

"A fair point," she said, "But perhaps the child of a commoner would be best on the throne."

Zuko snorted. "No wonder Shuga thinks so little of you."

She perked up. "I'm glad Shuga found you."

"How do you know the name I gave her?" Zuko asked, suspiciously.

Aiko rolled her eyes, managing to seem both annoyed and smug simultaneously. "She _was_ the only friend you had when mother brought you to visit the enclave."

Silence.

Zuko stood there, gaping, trying to think of something to say in response to that incredible statement. After far too long, he said something. It was just bluster, but he had to find some way to counter such an incredible statement. "I see your time in prison has left you wolf bat crazy," he told her.

"Are you taking care to clean Shuga's toes properly?" she asked him, casually, ignoring his statement.

Zuko shook his head. "For your information, yes."

Her head came up and she fixed him with a look. "How would you know how to do that if you hadn't been told by someone in an enclave?" asked his sister. She fixed him with an earnest look. "Zuko . . . _Lee_ . . . I understand now, that I have to help you. Lead you out of the moral ignorance your firebending creates inside you." She leaned forward, her eyes blazing in fervour. "I see it now. The role of air, the one Sozin tried to do away with, is to lead everyone of the lesser elements out of their self-imposed ignorance-"

"Or I can stay in moral ignorance, and at least not have to listen to your soppy, halfwitted, proselytising. At least, when _I_ say that fire is the superior element, I'm not dressing it up in fake humility," Zuko snapped at her. "Stop trying to make Azula into a peaceful twin to you. You won't succeed." He turned on his heel and began to storm off. He paused, however, and briefly turned back to say, "By the way, have you ever heard of these things called, 'libraries'? It's amazing what you can find in them by way of information on topics you didn't know anything about before."

Then he finished storming off. His sense of righteousness faded almost the moment he was out of the prison. For one thing, he was starting to get a headache, for another, there were a lot of unanswered questions in his mind. Firstly, when had he chosen to name the bison Shuga, and how had Aiko known?

"_Sound is simply vibrations in the air. An airbender with sufficient concentration can not only increase the volume of his speech to be heard by many people, he can arrange to hear conversations from a distance or make himself heard at a distance without resort to shouting," the man dressed in Water Tribe clothing told him when he'd asked about how Yanto had done so when announcing Zuko's presence to the Northern Tribe's enclave._

So maybe she'd been spying, but how had he known that, who were those people and why was he having these delusional memories and dreams?

Somehow he found his way to his bedroom, pacing anxiously around, trying to keep himself from pulling his hair out by the roots. He had to finally admit to himself that something hadn't been right since Ba Sing Se. Azula had been acting oddly, his relationship with Mai felt stilted, his father had kept giving him these strange, evaluating looks that were different from anything he'd ever aimed at his son and all these dreams about a past that wouldn't, couldn't, _shouldn't_ have happened.

He passed by the mirror again, struck, somehow, that something was missing from his reflection. Slowly, a hand reached up, tracing the left side of his face.

"_You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."_

What was happening to him?

As he stood there, struggling to find his centre, some sense of self, a thought intruded. He had to find Mai. Mai would make everything better. She'd make it all stop. When a headache threatened again, his mind was made up. At least she'd be able to get him a healer if he fell over and started frothing at the mouth.

Somehow, he'd lost enough of the day that the sun had set, and he couldn't just walk to her home without it being much remarked on. Without thinking, Zuko stole out the window of his own room, slipped through the shadows and found himself perched on the eaves of the roof, next to Mai's bedroom window. He was about to make his presence known, when he heard Azula's voice. "I don't see why you're objecting now."

"I'm objecting to continuing to play dutiful girlfriend when it's clear that Zuko and I don't fit," Mai said, her usually emotionless voice verging on exasperated.

Azula's response was sceptical. "You've pined after my brother since we were children. You're telling me you're giving up the dream? Already?"

"I had a crush on an idea," Mai told her. "The idea of the prince who would spoil me and indulge my whims. Someone who would keep me entertained without pinning me down."

"I don't know," Azula said. "He seems to have been dancing attendance on you pretty religiously."

A sigh. "It's not the same thing. Zuko does it because he's scared he'll lose me, not because he really wants to."

"I suppose I should have finessed things a little more," Azula said ruefully. "It's just that the opportunity offered by the Dai Li was too good to give up." She sounded sad as she said, "I just . . . I wanted him _back_."

Mai spoke again. "That reminds me. Did you have to make _me_ into his anchor?"

"Who else was he going to voluntarily spend lots of time with?" Azula asked. "Even now, he doesn't trust me, and Ty Lee would be too suspicious. You're his girlfriend, so if he goes to you every time he's feeling a little . . . lost, it makes sense."

"And if I have to listen to him whine about his headaches and his confusion about who he is and why he keeps dreaming about the Avatar, I may put a knife through his hurting head."

"Do it, and I'll make sure you suffer for the rest of your very long life," Azula told her in a low, terrifying voice.

Mai's voice was as deadpan as always when she replied, "You were a lot less concerned about Zuko before you had the Dai Li take away his memories and put fake ones in their place. Why isn't that working?"

Zuko vaguely heard Azula's reply that the memories weren't gone, just buried, as he took off at a dead run. He was on the city rooftops within moments, stumbling and running. Trying to escape the sense of betrayal inside him. He couldn't go back. Everything was a _lie_. Everything.

He didn't even know which memories were real and which weren't. What was a dream and what was reality? He was barely even aware when he fell afoul of a few cutthroats after dropping into an alleyway to make his way through the dark city streets. All the clumsiness he'd suffered sparring at the palace was gone, and Zuko slipped lithely through the small group of men, tearing through them with near-cruel efficiency. The two women they'd had cornered moments before thanked him profusely, and Zuko found his spinning mind slowing as he walked them back to the building they both had apartments in.

If there was one thing which was clear, it was that he wasn't going to figure out what happened to him and his memory by staying at the palace. It made no sense, however, to run off half-cocked. He'd go back to the palace for travel supplies, and then he'd find Shuga. She was the one creature he knew he could trust, and if Aiko was to be believed, he'd known the bison before . . . whatever had come before Ba Sing Se.

Perhaps the bison could show him to somewhere to find out the truth.


	6. Sisterhood

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: Also a little short, this chapter. However, this is what happened between the last chapter and the next one, where Zuko will finally catch up to the gang again. Thank you all, especially those of you I have not thanked personally, for all your wonderful feedback. I'll try not to disappoint anyone with how the story goes.

* * *

Zuko silently slipped back into the palace. Now that he was a little calmer, he was still determined to leave and see if Shuga could lead him to somewhere he could figure out the truth. However, he also knew that he'd be very miserable in very short order if he didn't make sure to have some supplies with him. While it was possible that his answers would be a swift and short journey away, there was no reason to count on it.

His first few stops, a military supply office and warehouse to get a tent, camping supplies and travelling food were simple enough. The guards were comfortable with their place within the city and felt no particular need to worry about thieves. Those who were as skilled at roof-walking as Zuko were either going after items worth a lot of gold on the market, which wasn't military supplies, trained assassins, who also wouldn't be after military supplies, or those who had gone to the Academy as Zuko, Azula and other noble-born children had. They too, had no reason to raid the warehouses.

Everyone else with any likelihood of stealing were the uneducated and unskilled poor.

He'd collected the saddle he'd finished piecing together, and had put those things into a landing place close to the palace where he'd hopefully be able to get Shuga to land. With that done, he'd gone to the palace and collected a bag of clothes, odds and ends that might be useful, and liberated a pair of swords from the armoury. He'd been working with them, as he always did, because despite Azula's insistence that he should stick to the classic firebender's stance that the only weapon a firebender needed was his bending, he liked swordwork. He was good at it, and he still hadn't found out where Azula had put his blades.

He didn't even know if they were still around anywhere.

It was just as he'd finished filling his bag and changing into black clothes better for sneaking about that his door banged open, startling him. "What are you up to, Zuko?"

His uncle had always said he had trouble controlling his impulses. "What's it to you, Azula? Are you going to make Mai reinforce the fake memories the Dai Li gave me?" She blanched. He pushed. "I mean, the fake memories you had the Dai Li give me."

"What did you hear?" she asked. It was so smooth he might have missed the slightest tremble to her voice if he hadn't been looking for it.

A sneer stretched across his lips, "Why? Worried your pet's running away?"

"That's not-" she cut herself off, and seemed to rethink something. "Zuko, it's true this just started because you're useful. Because you are. Father had sent you away, and it was the best thing that could have happened to you."

That caught his attention. "Father sent me away? When?" he snapped. "Because I don't even know what's really _happened_ over the last . . . I don't even know how long."

"You were thirteen," she said. "There was an . . . incident." Before he could ask what in the world that meant, she rushed on. "Then I met you again in Omashu, in that deserted town next to the desert, in that fight on the drill. You were . . . you were everything I could be proud to call my brother," she told him. "You were so ruthless and powerful. I could barely touch you, and I knew that if we could just get you back, we'd be unstoppable together."

Zuko snarled, "So you made sure I'd feel inadequate? That I'd mess up all the bending I tried here?"

"I needed you to accept that I was father's heir," she told him unashamedly.

He pulled away. "You always lie. Always. It's something I can't believe you made me forget. How can I even trust you're telling me the truth now?"

She didn't try to prevaricate. "I just . . . Zuko, you are my perfect match. You'd make the best right hand any Fire Lord could want. When we destroy all those pathetic other nations, I want you fighting with me. I want my brother with me."

He stepped away from her. "Listen to yourself. Destroy the other nations? This is crazy. We're going to try to destroy them, for what? For being there? For not wanting some other nation's leader to take over their land and people?"

"It's our destiny!" she shouted back. "Don't you see? Sozin's comet is there to grant the Fire Nation the power to control the fate of the world. That's why it's there!"

"That is insane," Zuko told her, flatly. "I want nothing to do with it." He scooped up his bag, vaulting out the window and dashing across the roof, pursued by his younger sister. She seemed intent on catching him, rather than stopping him at any cost, and Zuko just ran, trying to stay ahead of her. She'd always been faster, but hopefully he had enough of a head start to do what he wanted.

After leading her away, then turning back the way he came, Zuko hoped Azula was far enough behind him that he could finish what he wanted to do before he left.

Getting into the prison was nearly as easy as it was when he was simply walking in on his authority as royalty. He already knew where Aiko was, and it was the work of a moment to knock out a guard, take the keys and slip down to her cell. A few minutes later he was unlocking the door. "What's going on? Who . . . Zuko?" she asked.

"Come on, we're getting out," he told her.

She stared for a moment, not responding, and Zuko grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the cell and down the hall. He was quite surprised when she pulled her hand sharply out of his. "I'm sorry, Zuko. But I'm staying."

He stopped, stared, and said, "What?"

Aiko sighed. "You heard me. I'm glad you've come to your senses, and that you're leaving. This place has never done anything good for you. You should definitely get back to your friends, and that Katara is definitely better for you than Mai would ever be. But . . ." she sighed, a little wistfully. "Azula needs me."

"_What!_"

She nodded, earnestly. "I think I'm getting through to her. She understands, now, what family's supposed to be about. I'm pretty sure she wants to change-"

"I'm pretty sure she's just decided she wants me along for the ride while she takes over the world," Zuko snapped. "I'm not really sure that means much."

Aiko shook her head. "No, don't you see? She wants family. She wants the family mother refused to let her have. This is just a first step to her redemption. Azula needs love and understanding. I can see how you wouldn't be able to offer her forgiveness," Aiko told him. "But I can, and I will."

"You are unbelievable," Zuko said. "That's crazy. She had the Dai Li _take away my memories_. This isn't some minor bit of mischief, this is just wrong, and she knew it was wrong."

His older sister shook her head, sadly, and said in that tone of voice that had begun to grate on his nerves as badly as Azula's mocking use of 'Zuzu', "This is the failing of the other nations," she said. "You simply don't have the ability to separate yourselves enough, to be able to forgive as you should." He eyes lit up with a disturbing similarity to Azula's when the younger girl was speaking of the Fire Nation's inevitable destiny. "I know what my purpose is – the purpose of the Air Nomads. We're here to help you achieve understanding and enlightenment-"

"You're here, because Azula put you into prison," Zuko interrupted. "Azula was able to do that, because Fire Lord Sozin set up a culture of superiority that, it's pretty clear, the Cheng Dhu enclave picked up and applied to themselves."

"What are you doing?" Azula's voice spoke from behind him.

"Well, I _was_ going to take our older sister and get out of here," Zuko said, "But since you two seem to have worked the same magic of delusion on each other, it looks like I might as well leave you both to mess up each others' heads."

"I can't let you leave, Zuko," Azula said. She looked pained. "I wanted you with me, I wanted you to help me destroy the other nations." Sadly she told him, "If you're going to leave to rejoin the Avatar, I'll have to stop you."

Azula seemed distracted, and Zuko didn't dare wait. He launched himself at her, fire in a nimbus around his hands, hoping to catch her enough by surprise that he could push by and hopefully make it to Shuga's clearing. He didn't succeed and Azula met him, force for force, the two clashing in the halls of the prison. Vaguely, Zuko was aware of Aiko begging them both to stop, but he had to concentrate on avoiding Azula's deadly brand of bending.

Some instinct had him ducking and weaving where once he would have blocked, and a grin stretched across his lips as she shrieked in annoyance. "Why won't you stand and _fight_?" she demanded.

"Why should I stick around and let you hit me?" he asked, casually. She whirled into a kick that he might have broken a wrist blocking, and snarled when he slipped right past her nimbly, and struck her from behind. "Looking for me?" he smirked.

"Both of you, stop it!" Aiko punctuated the last word with a blast of wind that knocked the pair apart. Zuko went flying in the direction of the exit. He twisted in the air, landing and going at a dead run down the hall, collecting the bag he'd had to lose during the course of his fight. He didn't look back, choosing instead to put all his energy to reaching the clearing. Shuga was, indeed, waiting there, and Zuko spent precious minutes getting her saddled. It would be a pretty pathetic escape if he leaped onto her back and flew off, only to fall before they'd actually gotten away.

Still, it was just in the nick of time that he got onto her back and managed to flee, since Azula caught up to him, forcing him to block her shots, even as Shuga hurtled into the air.

In a short time they were out of range and Zuko was able to relax. "I just don't know what the truth is anymore, Shuga," he told her. He took a deep breath and asked, "Do you know where I could go to find out?"

His bison rumbled an affirmative and seemed to speed up, eagerly. Zuko sighed, and crawled back into the saddle. For now, he'd let her take the lead. It wasn't like he had even the slightest clue where to start looking for the Avatar anyhow.

Instead, he settled in to examine the dreams and flashes he was now sure were memories of some kind. The young girl with dirty feet, a foul mouth and crass taste – who was she? Where was she from? Why did she make him think of Azula? There was the boy his age, clearly Water Tribe, but funny and fun – Zuko knew the name of this one, it was Sokka. The other girl, Sokka's sister, he knew her name, too. Katara. He recalled his sister's voice during his abortive rescue attempt, telling him Katara would be better for him than Mai. It sparked a different memory of the same voice.

"_You can't keep your eyes off her, she's amazingly protective of you and you look at her the way I look at Thuan." His sister looked eagerly at him. "It's kind of obvious."_

Well, whatever had happened there, she wasn't going to let him start anything now. He could still recall the look of betrayal on her face when he'd sided with Azula under Ba Sing Se. If he'd truly been on the Avatar's side, Azula's deal with the Dai Li had probably caused him to make an incredibly dishonourable turnabout.

Even while he would have to try to figure out what had really happened, he'd have to earn their trust all over again.

Clearly, things just weren't going to be easy.

Eventually they landed, and Zuko climbed off, made camp, brushed Shuga with the intensity reserved for a person doing busy work in an attempt not to think, and finally crashed, after dragging his sleeping bag on top of Shuga to sleep. He woke after a not-very-restful night's sleep, and puttered around, wasting time in a determined effort not to think about the fact that he'd just left behind the only home he could remember having ever known.

His distraction was such that the eclipse, something the Fire Nation had been waiting for and preparing for, for weeks, caught him completely by surprise. When the terrifying eight minutes were up, he ignored Shuga's irritation over their having not left yet, to juggle balls of fire, and generally reassure himself that he could still bend.

That was when Shuga took him by surprise.

One minute he was seeing whether he could get a finer point of the fire blade in his hand, the next, she'd put her teeth in the back of his shirt and tossed him onto her back and taken off. "Shuga!" he squawked.

She ignored him, determinedly flying in a particular direction. Zuko looked ahead, and saw something that made his insides turn to ice. It was another bison.

Shuga was chasing the Avatar's bison.

He glared at her, sourly. "This is about your boyfriend, isn't it?" he asked her. He didn't know why he said it, but it just felt right.

He hadn't even known you could tell a sky bison felt smug from the back of her head until that moment.


	7. The Western Air Temple

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: Okay, I'm now working two part-time jobs and it's just kind of cutting into my writing time. I expect my sense of crisis will ease back at some point, but in the meanwhile, my writing has slowed . . . actually, back to it's usual rate of speed, based on ten years of fic writing predating my Avatar fics. So I apologise and offer you up the next chapter.

* * *

Zuko found himself in an abysmal situation. He and Shuga had followed the others all the way to the Western Air Temple, which was about when his nerve had given out. What was he supposed to say to them? How would he convince them that he hadn't chosen to turn his back on them? If he _had_ turned his back on them, he didn't even know what had actually happened. Maybe he'd been pretending all along. Maybe he'd only met up with them infrequently and Aiko had been yanking his chain when she'd made that comment about Katara.

Just because he could remember sharing a bedroll with the girl and kissing her in several different places and times didn't mean they were actually anything romantic to each other. Just like how he couldn't tell if he was really friends with that Sokka boy, or if they had just gotten along well when they met up.

So here he was, talking to a badger frog in a pathetic attempt to figure out the most convincing and sincere-sounding speech to convince his former . . . whatever-they-weres, that he really meant it.

Shuga was giving him squinty-eyed looks while he did it, and he couldn't really blame her. He probably looked like a crazy person.

"What do you think, Shuga?" he asked. "Should I just fall on my knees and beg, or maybe I should go and get something to give them. Like, something stolen from the palace to prove my sinceri – waugh!" With perfect aim and delicacy, Shuga clamped her teeth onto the seat of Zuko's pants and flew with him dangling by the butt right up to where the Avatar and his companions were chatting about . . . whatever they were talking about. Zuko was then unceremoniously dropped to the ground by his bison, who gave a cheery bellow and promptly started snuggling into the Avatar's bison.

"Zuko?" chorused four of them.

"Lee?" chorused the rest.

"I . . . um . . ." Zuko paused, then rubbed his rear. "I think she _bit_ me."

In his distraction, he hadn't even noticed Katara sneaking around him and peering at his backside. "Well, bruised or not, it's a nice view," she commented. "I think it'll get drafty, though."

Sure enough, he realised the cloth covering that he was rubbing wasn't pants, but the loincloth under them. "Could this get more humiliating?" he asked no one in particular. The sound of hysterical sniggers from the people he didn't recognise but had called him Lee told him that yes, it could get worse.

"As much as I'm enjoying seeing you humiliated after what you did," Sokka told him, "I have to wonder why it is we shouldn't be tossing you off the cliff and pretending we don't know you."

It was the crucial moment, and every single one of his planned speeches deserted Zuko. "I don't know," he said. "I don't . . . I don't even know what's going on. I . . . a couple days ago I found out my sister had gotten the Dai Li to . . . to take away my memories, to change them into fake ones." He looked pleadingly at the small group. "I don't even know what's real any more. All I know is that I keep having these memories and they have to do with you. I can't promise you anything. I just want to know who I am." When silence met his words, Zuko looked away, feeling very tired. "I didn't really expect that you'd believe me," he said.

"He's telling the truth," said the little earthbending girl. She sounded almost pleased.

Katara tensed. "You mean, like Jet?" she asked. She sounded hopeful.

"Who?" Zuko asked.

Sokka waved a dismissive hand. "Not important."

"What do you mean, Jet's not important?" demanded a very young boy. "He died to save all of you and you don't even care?"

The water tribesman looked stricken. "That's not what I meant, Duke-"

"It's _the_ Duke," interrupted the kid.

The other two, one young man with a ridiculous-looking moustache and the other trapped in some kind of chair with wheels (something that looked like a very ingenious way for a cripple to get around without needing to be carried everywhere), pulled the boy aside, clearly soothing him and taking him off to explore and leave the others to deal with 'Lee'.

Zuko frowned after them. "Was – did I go by Lee before?" he asked.

The Avatar was staring. "You really don't remember, do you?" When Zuko shook his head, the Avatar turned to Katara. "Do you think you could do for him what you did for Jet?"

"I can try," she said, looking determined.

Before Zuko could ask what that meant, there were two glowing hands on his head and a spike of pure agony lanced from his temples and seemed to start bouncing around in his mind.

"_Pain and suffering will be your teacher."_

"_What do you mean by enclaves? Are there a lot? Are you an airbender? Why isn't anyone else here?"_

_Before Zuko's eyes, the smoke swirled and danced, forming pictures. They moved, and it was as though someone had brought an illustrated scroll to life._

_Sokka freaked out and tried to use Momo as a cover, like an ingénue in a third rate romance play._

"_Mother said you were banished because you were trying to keep a company of soldiers from being sacrificed for no reason. That's not the actions of a f- bad person."_

"_Lee and his bison/ makes me wanna hurl./ We all know that/ it's 'cause he can't get a girl!"_

"_Oh, Zuzu, pathetic as ever."_

_That idiot child spun the fire into a circle around himself and sent out a wave of fire._

"_Hey, I'm fine, I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, I've already collected my own food, and," she gestured behind her at her earth structure, "My tent's already set up."_

_Grabbing Katara's arm, he pulled her against him, and kissed her. She let out a startled squeak as he did so, her mouth opening under his. She felt startlingly pleasant pressed against him in the dark._

"_I am so proud of you, Prince Zuko," he said. Iroh took a few strides forward. "I love you," he whispered in his nephew's ear as he drew the young man into a tight embrace._

The pain suddenly stopped and Zuko found himself on the ground, shaking. Katara was kneeling next to him looking horrified, and Sokka was right next to her, looking pale despite his darker skin. "What did you do?" he asked the waterbender, feeling his voice rasp in his throat as though he'd been screaming.

"You were _screaming_," Aang said from behind him. Well, that explained his voice. Zuko only had the energy to roll onto his back in order to have a better view of his friends. Toph seemed on the verge of crying.

Katara said, her voice sounding as shaky as Zuko felt, "I'd done that before to help someone else brainwashed by the Dai Li. They were more . . . thorough with you." She bit her lip a moment, then added, "It's like they attached pain to your real memories."

"That's why I keep waking up with a headache," Zuko said, feeling a little relieved that it wasn't because he really was sick with something.

Shuga landed next to him with a thud he felt through the stone under his back, followed by Appa. A moment later, Appa licked him. Then Shuga. Sokka sounded pretty amused when he said to the bisons, "I'm pretty sure that's not helping him."

Zuko felt more than saw the stink eye Shuga gave Sokka.

"But go ahead," Sokka continued, blithely ignoring the bison. "I'm certainly enjoying his humiliation."

Zuko tried to summon enough of his inner fire to breathe some of it at his friend, but he was just too tired and nothing came. In retrospect, he probably was better off not alienating everyone before he'd even figured out what was going on. A moment later, Toph had plopped down next to him, and said, "I've had to put up with Sweetness there being all weepy over you for _months._ You owe me."

"How do you figure?" Zuko asked her.

"She _cried_ on me."

Finally starting to feel like he might be able to move, Zuko sat up. Katara was at his shoulder in an instant, ready to support him if he fell over. "Are you sure you should sit up?" she asked, anxiously.

"I have to get up sometime," Zuko said with a sigh. He pulled himself up, straightened, made sure his balance and everything else were going to hold before turning to Katara. "I'm okay." Her powerful concern and fear and every other attitude she'd taken since he arrived left him completely unprepared when she reared back a hand and slapped him.

Actually, slapped was a really weak word for the sheer force of the blow.

"That's for nearly getting Aang killed!" she yelled. Then she started hitting him more. "And that's for turning on us! That's for making your uncle sad!" How! Could! You! Just! Do! That!" Every word was punctuated with a slap to his arms or chest.

"Ow! I'm sorry! Ow!" Then Katara burst into tears and ran into the temple. Zuko stood, not quite sure what had happened. "What?" he said to the world at large.

"Katara nearly killed herself healing Aang," Sokka said from behind him. "She felt particularly bad because she was the one who encouraged Aang to bring you with us and . . ." Zuko turned around to look at the others. Sokka shrugged. "It's just a little hard, you know? I mean, I think we all get that the Dai Li made you think something else, but . . ." he shrugged again.

He felt like he was on shifting sands. One minute they hated him, then next Katara was hovering over him, worried half to death. Then she was angry with him. Sokka was mistrustful, then making jokes at Zuko's expense and now he was . . . sad. All he wanted was for them to believe him. "I didn't just . . . just think something else," Zuko pleaded. "Azula said . . . right before I left, I wound up confronting Azula. She said I was banished when I was thirteen. I didn't even know that. I just thought I'd been at the palace the whole time." The bitterness he felt at all of it made him add, "The useless child, you know? Azula's going to get the Fire Throne because I'm just that pathetic. Forget tradition and the right of the older son to get the throne." He clamped down on his self-pity.

"You didn't remember any of us?" Aang asked.

Zuko shook his head. "As far as I was aware, I hadn't ever been out of the capital city, much less the Earth Kingdom. I thought Azula had sent for me because she was giving her pathetic older brother another chance to prove he was worth something to our father. When I woke up in Ba Sing Se, she said I'd been sick."

"So . . . we could tell you anything, and you wouldn't have any reason not to believe us?" Toph asked.

He shot a narrow-eyed look at her. "I remember a few things, and one of them is that when you sound like that, you're up to something flower petal."

"You . . ." she glared in his direction in fury. "You just wait. I'll get you sometime." She stomped away muttering about why he had to remember that.

Turning back to the other two boys, Zuko asked, "I don't suppose one of you would promise me not to lie about things until I can remember properly? I'd hate to mess something up because someone else lied about something."

Aang nodded seriously. "Of course, Zuko. Um . . . now that you're here, though," he said, a little hesitantly. "I, um, didn't finish mastering fire when your uncle was with us. I kind of need to learn, and you're the only firebender we can trust right now."

Zuko nodded eagerly. Anything to prove himself. "Of course. Sure. I'll just . . . whenever you want you can explain what you're up to and I'll see what I can do."

"Great!" Aang said. Then a rumble and a crack echoed from somewhere inside the temple. "I don't know who that was, but I'd better look." The Avatar zipped off, and suddenly Zuko was alone with Sokka.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "As long as a substandard bender who can't even remember half the things he learned can put something together to teach the Avatar," he said to himself.

A very loud sigh erupted from the water tribesman. "We're going to have to go through this all over again, aren't we?"

"What?" Zuko asked.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "You, going on and on about how you're worthless and whatever stupid ideas your family put into your head. Again."

"Why would you say my family and not just Azula?" Zuko asked curiously.

"Let me guess," Sokka said, "Now you think your mother was a wonderful loving woman who never did any wrong." Since that summed up what he was supposed to think according to Azula's point of view, Zuko really couldn't say anything. He didn't even know which of his memories he could trust anyhow. Sokka seemed to read his mind, anyhow, because he grabbed Zuko and started dragging him into the temple. "You know what? Never mind. We'll just try to remind you of reality, and hope that you catch up to the rest of us someday."

"Excuse me?" Zuko said, affronted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Sokka told him, "That eventually I'll manage to convince you that it's bad when people say horrible things about you."

"Says the guy saying horrible things about me," Zuko replied.

Sokka grinned. "See? It's working already."

"I'll show you working," said the firebender and launched himself at his friend. A moment later they were wrestling with each other, but something was wrong. It became painfully clear when Zuko found himself face to face with Sokka's sword.

They both froze, and then Sokka pulled back, resheathing his new favourite weapon. "Sorry, I . . . It's just going to take a while," Sokka told him, tacitly admitting he'd overreacted to what had once been brotherly playing between them.

All the camaraderie Zuko thought they'd managed to regain evaporated like the illusion it was. "Yeah," he echoed bleakly. "Time."

The rest of the evening was full of uncomfortable silences, fits and starts of conversation and reminiscing, and Zuko could tell it was entirely due to his presence. He would have left if he'd had anywhere to go. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer. "I'm pretty tired," he informed the others. "I'm going to get some sleep."

When the conversation picked up the moment he'd left, Zuko knew he'd done the right thing there. Silently, he set up a tent and bedroll in a quiet corner of the temple, away from everyone else. He'd just settled in for a night of self-pity and loneliness, when he was poked awake by a bare foot. "What?"

"Move over, Weepy," Toph declared.

Zuko found himself accommodating her, even as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

She crawled into his bedroll. "I'm cold and you're a firebender," she informed him. "You're warmer than everyone else and you don't try to talk at me all night or make weird noises."

Soon Zuko had a bundle of slightly smelly earthbender snuggled into his bedroll with him. "You know," he told her conversationally, "You stink. Are you trying to escape your delicate nature, Flower Petal?" he asked her.

"I'll get you for that in the morning," she grumbled at him. "Go to sleep before you start accusing me of being nice to you or something."

"Like I'd ever do that," Zuko sniped right back.

The grumbling, smelly girl curled up against him still made him feel better. Not everyone there was suspicious and angry with him. "Stop thinking and go to sleep," she snapped. "I can hear your heart beating weirdly, so stop it."

"Yes Toph," he said obediently. Then he went to sleep.


	8. Bending, Breaking, Rebuilding

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: So here's the next chapter and for those who have been worried that Katara and the others should be more guilty than angry, I want you to keep in mind that this has to be filtered through Zuko's perceptions. Yes, I left out the bulk of Firebending Masters, mainly because I'm saying that the stuff that happened on the Sun Warriors' island was pretty much the same as in the series, and there's no real reason for me to rehash it. I'm sorry this is taking so long, however and thank you all for your patience.

* * *

The next morning was awful. No one would meet his eyes over breakfast except Toph, and for some reason it was making Katara particularly irritable with the earthbender. Actually, Zuko thought he had a pretty good guess why Katara was irate, and it had to do with consorting with the enemy.

Then came that first firebending lesson with Aang. It seemed that, despite all the travels the airbender had reputedly gone on, and the fact that his uncle Iroh had been with them, he hadn't learned a bit about firebending. Zuko filed the question of why, and what his uncle had been doing with the Avatar, away for later and focussed himself on starting to train the boy. Having never taught anyone before, he decided to start by taking his cue from one of his first firebending teachers.

"I know you're nervous, but remember… firebending in and of itself is not something to fear," he started.

Aang's outward confidence seemed to improve not at all from this. "Ok. Not something to fear," he repeated. He looked about as fearless as an elephant rat surrounded by a pack of feral cats.

Now it was time for the same warning he'd gotten. "But if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino," he said sharply. He felt bad as he said it, because it seemed to have melted away what little courage the Avatar had gained. Now for the next part. "Now show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make."

Apparently, that was a puff of smoke.

When Aang suggested Zuko show him how, Zuko discovered he was no better. The tiny puffs of flame he produced were more pathetic even than his first attempts at bending as a very young child. In the end, they were forced to make their way back to the others, Aang having learned nothing but that his teacher was just as pathetic as his sister had always claimed. Zuko stiffened his spine and prepared himself for the ridicule and rejection that was inevitable. "I . . ." the looks everyone bestowed on him when he paused and couldn't finish the sentence were curious, though thankfully not overtly hostile. "I don't think I can teach the Avatar firebending," he finished, unable to truly say it.

"Why not?" demanded Sokka. There was no other word for the way he said the two words.

Now he had to say it. "I've lost my stuff," he said, skirting the issue.

"Don't look at me. I didn't touch your stuff," Toph declared. In spite of everything, Zuko felt the sturdy sense of the girl's friendship for him. It kept him from simply running away.

He shot her a look. "You sure of that?"

Sokka interrupted the moment. "And that's not what you meant at all. Why can't you teach Aang?" He fixed Zuko with a firm look and Zuko felt himself wilt internally, even if he refused to show it outwardly.

"My firebending," Zuko said. "It's gone."

There was a pause, then a burst of hysterical laughter escaped from Katara. When everyone turned to look at her, she flushed and looked mortified. "I . . . it's . . ." she trailed off, clapping a hand over her mouth and fled.

The long-haired earthbending boy with the weird moustache chased after her.

Toph looked a little horrified and said, "You _lost_ your bending?"

"It's not _lost_," he snapped. "It's just weaker for some reason." Then he saw the look on her face and realised he'd misread the statement. "Sorry."

"S'okay," she said.

Sokka spoke up behind him. "Well maybe you're not as _good_ as you think you are," he said.

Zuko whipped around and found himself practically snarling at the other boy. The implication that he was a failure both at his bending _and_ at being a good person rankled. "Easy," came a voice from behind him.

"What?" snapped Zuko.

Teo looked at him seriously. "I don't think Sokka meant it like that, is all," the crippled boy said.

"How else-"

"Based on the look on his face?" interrupted Teo, "He was trying to make a joke about your virility."

That stopped Zuko dead. He couldn't recall anything like that coming up, ever. "I . . . uh . . ."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Zuko filled the silence in his own head by castigating himself for not noticing that Sokka had been making an overture of friendship, and managing to rebuff it quite thoroughly. "I'm sorry," he said finally. "I shouldn't have overreacted."

"It's okay," Sokka told him. "We're still all getting used to how things are . . . now."

Aang suddenly spoke. "You know, I bet it's got something to do with what the Dai Li did to you."

"What do you mean, Twinkletoes?" asked Toph.

"I mean," Aang explained, "Bending is partly mental, right? I'm having all this trouble with firebending because I can't make myself think like . . . a firebender," he finished. "Maybe what Azula did has messed with Zuko's ability to get to his bending."

"Or maybe my trying to fix his head messed him up more," Katara said as she came back. She looked very stiff and wouldn't even look Zuko in the eye. Clearly his betrayal had hit her even harder than he'd thought.

He sighed. "It's a good point, but how do I fix it?"

"Jeong Jeong once said that firebending came from a place of destruction," Aang said. "Maybe we need to get you in a . . . a destructive mood."

"Aang, I don't-" Katara began.

Sokka interrupted. "So we have to make him angry? Should be easy," he said, and started poking Zuko with his sword hilt.

"Stop that!" Zuko shouted at Sokka, shoving the sword hilt away in irritation. "Anyhow, I don't want to be drawing from anger, anyhow. There has to be a better way."

Toph said, "Then you're gonna have to find some other source to draw from. I recommend the original source."

"What's that?" Sokka asked. "He probably shouldn't be jumping into a volcano."

Sounding pretty exasperated, Toph said, "No. Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is."

Eyes wide, Sokka said, "So it _is_ jumping into a volcano."

"I don't know. For earthbending, the original benders were badger moles," she said. When she'd finished telling her story of how she'd learned from the giant creatures, Zuko felt his respect for her increase at the same time as he felt his sense of inadequacy treble. She'd had to run away from home and learn from animals under the ground and had become a master bender, he'd had all the best teachers and here he was, pathetic and unable to summon anything more than a bitty puff of fire.

"That's-" Aang began to say something to Toph, but was interrupted.

"Ow!" Zuko glared at Sokka. "Why did you just kick me?"

"I'm going to kick you every time you start thinking you're inadequate or whatever stupid thing you were thinking about yourself. If I have to use pain to train you out of it, I will."

Katara snorted. "I tried that once, it didn't take."

Aang sighed. "I really don't see how violence will solve anything here."

"It's not violence," the Water siblings chorused. "We're just going to make him accept that he's not pathetic even if we have to beat it into him." Sokka added.

Toph's eyes lit up, and suddenly Zuko found himself being hit from various directions by a lot of rocks. "Can I join in?" she asked, a disturbing light in her eyes.

"No!" snapped Katara. "I know you. You'll just get into another fight with him and I'm not patching you two up just because neither of you can keep from trying to bond under the really stupid pretext of trying to kill each other while training."

"But that's the best part," whined Toph and Sokka.

Teo, Haru and the Duke all grinned, chorusing, "Yes, it is."

Katara made a noise of sheer disgust and grabbed Zuko's hand dragging him after her. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'm going to look you over and see if there's anything I can heal," she told him. Soon they were settled beside the fountain and Katara had so sternly ordered him to take his tunic off that Zuko had simply meekly obeyed. Soon he heard her grumbling and felt a strange sensation that was both cool and warm at the same time slipping over his back. Small aches he hadn't even been aware he had eased away and he realised she was actually expending the energy to heal all the minor bruises he had from training with Azula and being hit by Toph and Sokka moments before.

She made a 'hmm'ing sort of noise, and suddenly he could feel it sinking into his back, relaxing and effectively massaging the muscles in his back as she carefully ran her hands over every inch of his skin. Zuko sighed as the very nice sensation of Katara's bending slipping through his back. As he sat there, the moment slowly merged itself with a memory.

_Katara had curled up behind him, wrapping herself around the firebender rather thoroughly during the night, and Zuko was loathe to wake her._

He came out of it as Katara's hands left his back. Slowly he turned, finding his face inches away from hers. That last memory clinched it. He'd been in some sort of romantic entanglement with her. Why else would he have these memories of sharing a bedroll with her. It also would explain why she was so angry with him.

Well, she was very pretty, smart, an amazing bender and he didn't want to discover that he'd permanently lost his girlfriend just because he missed prime opportunities like this one.

So Zuko kissed her.

She seemed to freeze for a moment, then she relaxed into the kiss. It felt a little awkward, but it had been months since they'd last seen each other, and she was clearly surprised. They were interrupted by the rattling of pebbles as somebody shuffled down the path nearby. Katara sprang away from him, eyes wide, made an odd sort of squeaking noise, then ran off.

A moment later, Sokka arrived, trailed by Aang. He looked around, frowning. "Where's Katara?"

"She just . . . uh . . . left," Zuko said.

"Well," Aang declared, "We still have to find the source of firebending so we can fix you."

Zuko sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That's not going to help me. The original sources of firebending were the dragons, and they're extinct."

Wide-eyed, Aang said, "What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid."

"Well Sozin made sure there weren't any, and my uncle Iroh killed the last one," Zuko snapped. "So there aren't any more."

Sokka shook his head as Aang started grumbling about fire lords, their similarities to cow pigs, and what passed for profanity for the monk-raised boy. "Your family's really out for the title of best villain ever."

"Wouldn't that be worst villain?" Zuko asked him.

"Nah," Sokka said. "Best implies that they're good at what they do. Worst would mean they were bad at it."

"But best implies that they're actually the villains who're the most good of villains generally," Zuko countered, "And I would think you'd think of my great grandfather as being a bad person."

"Good point," mused Sokka.

Zuko suddenly perked up. "Maybe there's another way," he said suddenly.

"Huh?" asked Sokka.

"To learn something from the original benders," Zuko explained. "The Sun Warriors were the first to learn from the dragons."

Aang joined in, having run out of the extremely mild invective he'd been using. "The Sun Warriors? Well, they weren't around a hundred years ago."

"No, they died off thousands of years ago," admitted Zuko. "But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins."

Aang nodded sagaciously. "It's like the monks used to tell me. Sometimes, the shadows of the past can be felt by the present."

Sokka stared at them both in disbelief. "So, what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood 1000 years ago ?" he asked, waving a hand vaguely in the air.

"More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar has to find a new teacher," Zuko said.

There was a pause while Zuko contemplated what he'd do to make himself useful to the Avatar and his friends if he wasn't going to be able to teach the Avatar firebending. Suddenly he felt a powerful whack to the back of his head. "What was that for?" he demanded of Sokka.

"Stop looking like we're going to feed you to a dragon if you can't bend," Sokka told him. "I said I was going to beat you until you stopped thinking stupid things."

"First," Zuko said to him, noticing Aang rolling his eyes and sneaking off out of the corner of his eye, "You said you'd kick me, and second, isn't it bad enough that I get these screaming migraines every time I try to remember what actually happened to me over the last four years?"

A gasp brought their attention to where Katara had returned. She refused to meet Zuko's eyes and seemed particularly stiff as she asked, "What's going on?"

"Zuko and I are going to see if we can't learn from the Sun Warriors so that Zuko can get his bending back," Aang piped up.

Sokka threw his hands up in the air and stalked off. "Clearly Katara's crazy is contagious, because you used to be sensible enough not to suggest wandering aimlessly around some abandoned temple hoping for guidance from dead people," he declared as he left.

"I'll go get Appa ready," Aang declared eagerly, and scampered off.

Suddenly alone with Katara, Zuko tried to fix whatever he'd done wrong before. "Katara-" he reached out a hand to her, but she pulled away, and spoke hastily over his attempted apology.

"You'd better go. After all, Aang does need to start learning firebending as soon as possible." She wouldn't even pretend to look him in the eye, preferring to throw the words over her shoulder as she hurried off. He stared, feeling terrible that he'd betrayed her so badly that she clearly just hated him now. Zuko resolved to simply avoid her from then on. If she wanted to talk to him she would, but obviously his mere presence pained her too much to bear.

He left with Aang and found himself in one of the most terrifying, boring, exhilarating, edifying and confusing two days he'd ever had. He wasn't sure he'd ever been through so many emotions in such a short period ever before.

When they got back, Aang insisted on showing everyone the form they'd learned and the mockery for the name, "Dancing Dragon" seemed generally good natured. The party broke up fairly quickly however, as Zuko was absolutely exhausted. He lay in his bedroll, unable to keep himself from flicking fire from his fingertips, sculpting it into little shapes, lighting and extinguishing the candle he'd placed nearby.

Eventually he managed to fall asleep. As had happened so often lately, his dreams were a cacophony of what he was beginning to recognise as memories. The pictures, names, places and voices spun by, most of them leaving him bare impressions, but one face stood out more often than the others.

"_Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart."_

Zuko awoke with a muffled scream, the image of a man with a shock of white hair, thin moustache and pointed beard fading from his head in the face of the agony pounding from his temples and arcing through his skull like lightning.

Gentle hands joined his on his head and the pain began to ease immediately. When he came back to full awareness, Zuko discovered that his arms were wrapped around Katara's waist, his head was buried in her lap, and she was gently carding a hand through his hair. "Katara?"

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

It wasn't appropriate the way he was clinging to her. "Sorry," Zuko said, pulling himself away. "And thanks. I mean, you were um . . . healing a little, weren't you?"

She nodded. "You looked like you were hurting a lot, I had to do something."

Of course. She was a good and kind person who wouldn't let someone else hurt if she could help it, whether or not she liked them. "Well, thank you," Zuko said. They sat in silence for a while.

Katara suddenly spoke. "Toph not here tonight?" she asked.

There was an edge to her voice Zuko couldn't quite figure out. "No," he said.

"I . . . today," Katara said, slowly. "Why did you kiss me?" Zuko must have waited too long as he figured out how to explain, because she suddenly backtracked. "Nevermind. I mean . . . no." She said, speaking over his abortive attempts to tell her. "How are you feeling? I mean, Ty Lee once took my bending away," she said. "And that was terrible. So are you better? I mean, feeling better?"

"Yes," he said. "I just needed to figure out how to get at my inner flame again," he told her. "So I'll be able to help Aang train. You don't need to worry about that."

She reared back as though she'd been struck. "I was worried about _you_," she snapped. "I realise this might be hard for you to understand, but not everyone looks at people strictly based on how useful they are."

"That wasn't-" Zuko tried to tell her he'd just been reassuring her that everything was fine with him, and that he hadn't meant to imply that was the only reason she was there. But Katara stormed off before he could say anything.

Zuko shook his head and rolled over, wondering if he'd ever manage to get Katara to forgive him, who the man in his dream had been and whether he'd ever remember enough of what had happened to him to know the truth.

Just as he fell asleep however, he wondered how it was Katara had been there on hand to help him when he woke up from his migraine-causing dream.


	9. The Boiling Rock

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I know I've been missing forever. I just hope that you will all forgive me and my absence with this offering of the next chapter. This ends a little abruptly, but I really didn't want to end it where the episode did, because then I'd've wound up writing this fic for another damn week. Anyhow, I just hope you all find this worth the wait. Thanks for your patience, and not asking me what the hell I was doing writing a Harry Potter one-shot instead of this.

I actually have an addendum here. Just above is the original author's note. I've been now sitting on this chapter for something like four days because there was something wrong with the chapter loading mechanism on the site. I kept getting error messages. So, after an even longer delay, I give you Boiling Rock.

* * *

Zuko had been bullied into making tea by the others, then had been bullied into evaporating it because it was just so bad that it was decided it had to be disposed of thoroughly, and Sokka claimed it might pollute the river and kill fish.

Before Zuko could feel even more despondent than he'd been feeling already, Haru mentioned something about a pretty girl he'd seen and Teo joined in on the conversation. Sokka followed, and soon Zuko found himself participating, in a limited way, in a kind of conversation he'd only ever heard by eavesdropping on other boys in the Fire Nation Academy. It was . . . fun.

It felt odd to think the word, since fun wasn't a concept he'd had much contact with outside of the purely theoretical. So Zuko sat, occasionally putting in a word where he could and just enjoyed the shallow pleasure of talking about girls. He joined in with Haru and Teo in chatting about how pretty Katara was, tamping down his annoyance with the other two in their objectification of _his_ girlfriend. After all, he'd seen no indication she'd moved on – she certainly wasn't acting girlfriendly with those two, and it was fun to prod at Sokka's overprotective streak. Anyhow, he wouldn't ingratiate himself to her by trying to beat up her friends in a jealous fit.

It was after Sokka finally sputtered himself into submission and the other two wandered off curious to explore more of the temple that Sokka asked Zuko, "I was just . . . I mean . . ." He paused, took a deep breath and seemed to force the question out. "If someone was captured by the Fire Nation, where would they be taken ?"

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked. "Who was captured?"

Sokka made a sort of half-shrug, half-pleading gesture with his hands. "When the invasion plan failed, some of our troops were taken. I just want to know where they might be."

"Now that I think about it," Zuko said, "You had my uncle with you. Why would you still invade the capital when he was there to tell you we already knew about the eclipse? Not to mention that Azula knew-"

"We didn't," Sokka said sharply. "When we found out, we decided to use the eclipse to take back Omashu and Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation." He sighed. "Those damned Dai Li like the power they have so much, they were able to find out and put down the attacks on the city. When the forces hit the walls, they were let in, then found themselves in a trap, because the benders who were supposed to be helping them from inside joined up with the Fire Nation troops. They got overwhelmed."

"But what were you doing at the capital right after the eclipse?" Zuko asked. "Shuga dragged me after you, basically just a couple hours after."

"We decided to make a surgical strike," Sokka told him, plopping onto a convenient piece of rubble. "We'd bring Aang in, and while the Fire Lord was disabled from the eclipse, Aang would do him in." The Water Tribe boy sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Azula slowed us down and we all just . . ." he flung his hands out in exasperation. "We could have stopped everything then, and we just failed."

"Where was my uncle in all this?" Zuko asked. He knew he should focus, but he had to ask.

"He went in with the troops at Omashu," Sokka said. "Something about a friend of his. I didn't quite figure out what that meant." He looked up at Zuko. "You're avoiding answering. Where are they?"

"I can't tell you," Zuko said. Hoping Sokka would leave it at that.

"Why not?" Why didn't anything ever go his way?

"Trust me. Knowing would just make you feel worse," Zuko told him flatly, then turned and tried to leave.

Sokka grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. "It's my Dad. He was captured too. I need to know what I put him through."

He knew what that felt like. He didn't know how he knew, but something in his mind just told him that he did. Still, "It's not good Sokka," he prevaricated.

"Please."

Zuko closed his eyes, braced himself for what might be an explosion from his friend, and said, "My guess is, they were taken to the Boiling Rock."

"What's that?" Sokka asked, sounding a little fearful.

Now that he had to explain it, Zuko settled himself a little into a slightly more balanced position. The better to dodge or take a hit from what was likely to be an extremely irate Water Tribe warrior. "The highest security prison in the Fire Nation. It's on an island in the middle of a boiling lake. It's inescapable."

Amazingly, Sokka didn't try to beat the messenger to a pulp. "So where is this place?"

"You're not going to try to break into a prison in a volcano in the middle of the Fire Nation?" Zuko asked aghast. "There's a reason it's inescapable. People try all the time and wind up dying in the lake."

"Who said I was going to try to break in?"

Zuko folded his arms at glared at the other boy.

"I never said I was going to try to break in."

Zuko didn't move.

"Why would you think I was going . . . Okay! Yes! I'm going to get my Dad out," Sokka snapped. "It was my plan, my decision and everyone was following my lead." He looked almost pleadingly at Zuko. "I have to regain my honour Zuko."

Zuko frowned briefly, then said. "I understand. So you get your things packed and we'll take Shuga. She's more used to sneaking around in the Fire Nation than Appa is."

After the others had gone to bed that night, Sokka left a note and Zuko climbed onto Shuga, packing up hay to feed her, burn salves because he had a sneaking suspicion they'd be needed, and glared balefully at the swords he'd liberated from the palace. They were good blades, but they weren't _his_ blades. He missed his dao swords. "Hey," Sokka said from behind him.

"You ready to go?" Zuko asked.

Sokka nodded. "First though, I thought you might like these back," he said, and handed Zuko the twin blades.

"My swords," Zuko breathed. He was barely aware of Sokka setting Shuga on a course for the Boiling Rock as he pulled them apart, looked over every inch, gave them a few quick swipes in the air to test that the balance hadn't gone off, slotted them back together and then repeated the whole process again.

"You know," Sokka commented casually from the front of the saddle, "While it's nice to see you reunited with those blades, would you stop fondling your sword back there?"

"_All I'm saying is that while I'm glad you have it back, would you please stop fondling your boomerang back there?"_

Zuko hissed for a moment, as the words echoed in his head, a stab of pain lancing through his temples. Sokka was looking at him in concern, though, so Zuko pulled himself together and retorted, "Don't compare my blades to that hunk of metal you've _named_ Boomerang." He continued, speaking on a sort of autopilot. His mouth just knew the right words. "Anyhow, at least I've got more to play with."

"You wish!" Sokka replied with the sort of amused affrontedness that could only come with friendship. They argued a while longer, and Shuga rumbled irritably at them when things got to the point that they were about to start pulling things out to compare them. So they amicably debated on the matter of the other boys, and they both agreed Haru was trying to compensate for _something_ with that weird moustache of his.

It was familiar and nice and comfortable. When they got to the crater, Sokka said, "So how are we going to do this? I mean, Shuga's going to attract a lot of attention-"

"No she won't," Zuko said confidently. "Shuga, we need to get down there without being seen. You ready?" She rumbled at him and Zuko hunkered down. "You might want to hang on and hold your breath, Sokka," Zuko said.

"Why? Wha-" Sokka never finished his second question, because Shuga spun in the air, hurtling through it at a speed that blew the air away from the mouth. Zuko grinned at Sokka clinging for dear life as they spun and whirled through the mist and steam that wreathed the lake, Shuga's speed and agility turning her into nothing more than a phantom glimpsed from the corner of the eye of anyone looking.

They landed, silently, and Sokka staggered off and fell to the ground, clinging to it and kissing it and declaring that he would rather die on the Boiling Rock than do that again. Shuga eyed him doubtfully. "Ignore him," Zuko told her and scratched her all over, making her rumble happily. He took off her saddle and took his jury-rigged carrying sling, put it on her and then put the hay into it. "Is that comfortable?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Okay. Can you come back to pick us up the day after tomorrow?"

Shuga nuzzled him and leaped back into the air just as Sokka, looking rather chalky, staggered up to him. "What was that?" he demanded of Zuko. "An attempt to kill us both by heart attack?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "I don't see what you're so upset about, he-who-tried-to-fall-to-his-death-from-an-airship."

"You're starting to remember more," Sokka said with a still-queasy smile. "And that was totally different from trying to pretend to be trapped in a hurricane."

"Whatever you say," Zuko told him. "Anyhow, now that we're here, what next?"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "What do you think? We steal some guard uniforms and just walk through the prison until we find my Dad."

Zuko stared. "That's it? This is the plan? The Avatar's monkey could come up with a better plan."

"First of all," Sokka said with what was an interesting attempt at great dignity, "Momo's a flying lemur, not a monkey. Second, I don't see you coming up with any great plans, hotshot."

The former prince sighed. "My plan was to not come here at all. Okay, we'll do it your way. If I die and you don't, I'm coming back from the spirit world to haunt you."

Sokka looked at him curiously. "What if we both die?"

"Then I'll spend eternity kicking your ass," Zuko told him grimly.

They circled around on the island a few times, careful not to be seen, when they got a stroke of sheer, dumb luck. Two of the guards came staggering around a corner. They were giggling.

"Whatcha think?" the first was slurring. "Thass wha all the rumours're sayin'."

The other nodded vehemently, his helmeted head bobbing wildly in agreement. "Makes sense, don't it?" he said. "I mean, that Lady Mai's all skinny-like, right?"

"Nothing like the other girl that hangs around with the princess," the first agreed. "That one looks all soft and curvy."

"Yeah," agreed the second one. "It only makes sense that he'd try'n get a girl as close to a boy 's he could."

Sokka's face was wreathed in a smile as he turned to Zuko. "Not a word," Zuko hissed at him.

"So you suppose the prince is chasin' after th'avatar 'cause he's hopin' for some cute boy tail?" the first asked.

That was too much, and Zuko leapt at the drunken pair of guards, dealing with them with remarkable swiftness. A few quick strikes with his sword-weighted fists and both were lying unconscious on the ground.

"Now what are we gonna do with them?" Sokka asked doubtfully.

Staring at the pair lying crumpled on the ground, one on top of the other, Zuko had a wicked idea. "Just help me get their uniforms off, Sokka," Zuko said. "Then leave the rest to me."

Once the two men were down to their rather filthy-looking loincloths, Zuko smirked and dragged first one, then the other about until they were in an extremely compromising position. Between the alcohol on their breath and the way Zuko had rolled them into each other, no one would listen to a word either said about being attacked.

Sokka's eyes were bulging when Zuko's artistic rendition of a same-sex pornographic still was complete. "That's . . . how did . . . I'd never . . ."

Zuko shrugged. "There's some really interesting things in the Fire Nation Palace library if you know where to look," he said carelessly.

"Why were you reading it?" Sokka asked, scandalised. "Were they right about you and girls?"

"No!" Zuko glared at the other boy, much offended. "There was a series of scrolls. Some of them had some pretty interesting pictures, and some of them were . . ." he gestured back where the guards were.

From their hiding place, they watched the next shift arrive and find the pair in their . . . amorous clinch. As Zuko had expected, no one believed to guards who were still drunk and in their underwear that they'd been attacked. They were able to sneak in, find their way about, and discovered that Hakoda was not there. They did, however, discover that Sokka's girlfriend, or something, Zuko wasn't too clear on what, had been taken captive there.

Between one thing and another, Zuko was caught and made into a prisoner, while Sokka paraded around in his uniform, fitting in far better with the guards than he had any right to. Zuko quietly muttered imprecations under his breath about his friend, especially after Sokka invented a new game, see how many grape seeds you could get stuck in a prisoner's hair. Zuko's now-unruly mop was soon laden with them, and he plotted vengeance while he scrubbed the floors with Suki.

"You know," Suki told him, "Kami's been pretty disappointed at how close you and Katara got. I mean, I know you weren't dating the last time I saw you, but you really fit with her. I couldn't do anything but let her down."

"Oh," Zuko said. He felt at a loss at that comment, because he had no idea who Kami was or when or where he'd met her. "I . . . uh . . . I don't know how to . . . um-"

Suki smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. I mean, you only spent a week with her on Kyoshi, but she was sorry when you left. She kept saying you were the most fun as a sparring partner she'd ever had." The smile turned into a grin. "She also said you were a really good kisser. I have to say," she added, "If it weren't for Sokka, I'd be tempted myself."

"I have amnesia," Zuko blurted out.

The grin disappeared. "What do you mean?" Suki asked, concerned.

Zuko glanced up and noticed the guards weren't looking. He promptly stopped, sighing as he leaned back against the wall. "It's not really amnesia exactly," he said. "It . . . you know the Dai Li?" he asked.

Suki nodded, joining him in their impromptu break. "They patrol around in Ba Sing Se. They're supposed to guard the cultural history of the city or something."

"I don't know about that," Zuko told her wryly. "But one of the ways they keep the peace is by kidnapping troublemakers and . . . well . . . making them forget things. Changing their memories."

She gasped. "They did that to you?"

"I betrayed the Avatar and Katara to . . . to the Fire Nation because of it," Zuko said. "I didn't even know, because I couldn't remember. I still can't remember a lot. At least, not that I know is real."

"Oh, Lee," Suki said, putting a hand on his arm in sympathy.

"You two! Back to work!" shouted the guard.

They got back to scrubbing as Zuko told Suki his story. By the time he was done, she was shaking her head. "I think you're misinterpreting, Lee," she told him.

"Misinterpreting what?" Zuko asked. "I mean, I betrayed them, I could have gotten Aang killed. I nearly _did_ get Aang killed."

"Maybe they feel just as bad," suggested Suki. "I mean, you'd had your memories broken up and changed and they didn't do anything to help you."

"Sokka nearly killed me that first day when I tried goofing around with him," Zuko objected. "I've had to earn their trust all over again. I still have to." He suddenly realised something. "By the way, my name isn't Lee, it's –"

But he never got to tell her. Shouts and a familiar bellow of pain got their attention. "Shuga," Zuko gasped. The guards shouted, making sure to triple the watchers keeping an eye out for what they believed to be the Avatar's bison. Sokka was down by them in moments. "I think he only caught her paw," Sokka reassured him. "But even she's not going to be able to sneak in here to get us out."

"Now what?" Zuko asked. "I mean, before, all we had to do was sneak out after dark to meet her. Now how are we getting back out?"

Sokka's brilliant mind snapped instantly to a solution. "The cooler," he said.

"What?" Zuko asked. "Are you crazy? How does crippling me or anyone else with cold sickness help us get out of here?"

"The coolers are completely insulated to keep cold in, right?"

"Right," Zuko said, slowly.

"Well, to keep cold in, it has to keep heat out," Sokka explained. "It's the perfect boat to get out across the boiling water."

"The cooler as a boat?" Zuko asked, sceptically.

Sokka nodded. "There's a perfect place where we can roll it into the water, and if we don't make a sound, the current will take us right to the other side. Bing, bang, boom we're home free."

"How are you going to get the cooler out?" Suki asked.

They were interrupted by one of the other prisoners. "Yeah," he asked. "How _are_ you going to get the cooler out?"

In the end, they had to agree to bring Chit Sang and his friends with them when they left. One staged fight later, and Zuko was in a miserable huddle, trying to get his shaking hands to work enough to undo the bolts holding the cooler in place. It was terrible, and Zuko could feel the cold all the way to his bones. It felt like the ice was going to eat him from the inside out.

_He wasn't thinking of any other possible consequences as he lunged at the water, dipping his hand in to collect some to drink._

_It was ice cold. It was so cold his fingers briefly burned, ached and then went numb. He still pulled the hand to his mouth and swallowed before he could consider the consequences. For a moment, he felt as though he'd had the most refreshing drink imaginable. _

_Then the cold spread from his hand and his mouth, radiating into his body. He was so cold, and he felt his limbs weakening as the cold worked its way through him. His body gave out and he fell to the sand. Suddenly Tahl's head loomed into view. "Something Hae and I forgot to mention," she told him casually. "Your inner flame is a part of your essence. It's essential to you. Without it, you'll die."_

_He tried to say something, but he couldn't move. Vaguely he thought that maybe this was appropriate. At least he'd never give in to his inner flame and do something horrible. But he was so cold . . ._

When Sokka came to get him, Zuko felt pretty incoherent, the pain in his head telling him this was a memory, but the fact that there was a talking tiger seal just left him feeling confused about the whole thing. Meanwhile, the memory of the cold had combined with the real cold of the cooler to leave Zuko a trembling wreck.

He was pretty sure that he must have muttered something about dying, though, because a very pale Sokka had snapped that he wasn't dying and not to talk nonsense, even as he'd watched with jealous eyes as Suki had wrapped herself around him to share body heat.

Something petulant in Zuko made him grumble as he shivered, "I want Katara."

An exasperated snort came from next to his ear as Suki told him, "I'd rather Katara was doing this, myself."

"She said I was her tiger seal," Zuko muttered.

Sokka, still watching the whole production said, "I can't wait until you have all your memories back so I can find out what that means and beat you for it."

The Water tribesman's voice finally brought Zuko out of it. "Oops."

"You're right, 'Oops'," Sokka told him. "What does that mean that Katara said you're her tiger seal?"

"Uh . . . I was just hallucinating that a tiger seal tried to kill me with magic water," Zuko hedged. "Maybe you should ask Katara instead of the guy with the false memories."

Sokka shot him a narrow-eyed look, but agreed. "I'll be doing that once we get back."

Soon enough, the fact that they were in the middle of a lake of boiling water kicked in and Zuko started to feel human again. As shaky as he was, he was delegated to stay behind while Suki and Sokka went back for the cooler. Chit Sang showed up shortly thereafter with a couple people in tow.

Wanting to have a better idea of whether or not Chit Sang was in the Boiling Rock for a reason that meant they should leave him far behind once they left, Zuko asked, "So how did you wind up in here?"

The man sighed. "I got caught pickpocketing."

Zuko turned to stare incredulously. "What did you do? Stab someone to death in the process?"

The other rolled his eyes. "How was I supposed to know that the girl I tried to steal from was the prince's ex-girlfriend?"

Zuko couldn't help it. He started snickering. "What's so funny?" demanded the man. "I got thrown in here along with my girlfriend and my best friend just because they tried to talk the judge down on my sentencing."

"I'm sorry. I'm just amazed Mai didn't simply gut you," Zuko told him shaking his head. "How close did you get before she had you praying she'd make it quick?"

Chit Sang was staring at him now. "What . . . who are you?"

"The ex-boyfriend of the girl you tried to rob," Zuko told him.

The man eyed him for a moment, then said, "You used to date her? Was it before or after Prince Zuko did?"

Zuko opened his mouth to correct the other man's misunderstanding, then decided it was probably better all around if he didn't. "Before," he decided to say. "While she was in Omashu with her family."

The faint drumbeat of another headache told him he was right about Mai having been in Omashu. Chit Sang didn't notice, and asked, "What's Fire Nation nobility doing hanging around with some Water Tribesman?"

"It's a long story," Zuko told him, "And I'll be frank with you, there are parts I'm really not sure of myself."

Suki and Sokka chose that moment to reappear, clearly struggling to keep the cooler from tumbling down the bank and causing a ruckus in the process. They all hurried to help the pair ease the thing down. Once it was on the bank, ready to be pushed into the water, Zuko caught sight of Suki and Sokka arguing quietly. When he got closer, he heard Sokka say, "Maybe it's better if I cut my losses. Call it quits before I fail."

"What's going on?" Zuko asked.

"Nothing," Sokka said.

Suki talked right over him. "They said they're expecting some Water Tribe prisoners to arrive in the next bunch."

Zuko nodded. "You think it might be your Dad."

"I've gotten Suki out now," Sokka said, shaking his head. "I don't want to bite off more than I can chew."

"Sokka," Zuko said, "You're going to fail a lot before things work out."

The other boy shot him an irritated look. "That's supposed to make me feel better ?" he asked, grabbing his things and starting for their makeshift boat.

"Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again," Zuko continued, pretending he hadn't heard Sokka at all. His uncle had done that a lot, and while it annoyed the heck out of him, he had to admit it usually worked and made people listen.

"Seriously, not helping," Sokka told him, now very annoyed.

"You have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail."

Sokka stopped dead. It was as though a fire lit behind his eyes. When Chit Sang asked, "Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?"

The Water Tribesman replied, "No, I'm staying. You guys go," he said, giving Zuko and Suki a push."

"I'm not leaving without you, Sokka," said Suki.

"Neither am I," Zuko affirmed.

Chit Sang and his friends took their leave, and the three headed back into the prison to wait for what they hoped would be Chief Hakoda's arrival. From their vantage point, Zuko watched the other prisoners get off the boat. There was an interminable pause when they thought that was the last of them and that they'd lost their best chance at escaping, when the guards forced a Water Tribesman out of the gondola. He stood tall and proud, and Zuko could see where Sokka got his (very occasional) ability to appear as proud and powerful as any of the Fire Nation's nobility. This was a man who could give the Fire Lord Ozai competition in noble bearing and a stern mien.

They split up, Sokka going to meet up with his father, while Suki and Zuko both headed out to keep their heads down and out of trouble with the other work gangs. There wasn't much chance for talking then, and Zuko just tried his best to keep out of trouble. Sokka tried to get to him in his cell, something about a new escape plan, but that was broken up by the guards dragging Zuko off at the behest of some higher-up.

The higher-up was Mai.

Just seeing her made Zuko shake. Some painful instinct in his mind told him that he should cling to her, put his head in her lap and beg her to make the pain go away. Just being in the same room as her made those feelings and memories he'd been having with the Avatar fade. A glint of blue from somewhere on Mai's hair combs snapped Zuko back to himself. Katara. He had to remember Katara.

"What are you doing here, Mai?" Zuko asked. He took a step back from here, feeling his temples start to throb.

"Two reasons," she told him. "My uncle's the Warden," Zuko breathed a small sigh of relief. "And the Avatar's bison was sighted here. Did you think Azula wouldn't come, you idiot?"

"I'll admit," Zuko told her, "I had other things to worry about. Like regaining the trust of the people I betrayed, thanks to my sister. And you."

Her eyes flashed. "Save it. You're betraying your country."

"I'm trying to save my people!" Zuko snapped.

"_I . . ." Zuko paused. "I don't think I'm the right person to do that," he said. "I'm really the weakest bender out of all the others from the enclave. Also . . ." he decided to admit something up front. The fewer lies he told now, the fewer to be caught out in later. "I wasn't there a lot. My mother's marriage was arranged so that she'd be high up in the Fire Nation and could use the position to protect the enclave from discovery. After she was banished, I . . . didn't do so well at doing what she did and I had to leave, too."_

Mai didn't seem aware of Zuko's internal revelation. "Your people are the people of the Fire Nation, who you're choosing to betray," she told him. "You-"

"You mean the same people our own government will murder and then blame the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes for the deaths?" Zuko asked, trying not to clutch at his aching head. "You mean the same people willing to murder my mother and everyone like her-" He cut himself off. He was giving away too much. He knew that much.

"I never wanted you like this," Mai said abruptly.

That stopped Zuko cold. "Like what?"

She dropped gracefully into a chair. "Not . . . You were forced," Mai said. "When you first came in that morning and you kissed me, I thought I finally had what I'd wanted," she told him. "You were . . . it was everything I'd thought being with you would be."

In spite of his anger, Zuko felt something in him hurting along with her. "Azula was the one who chose to do this to me."

Mai shook her head. "I could have told you the truth. I could have . . . The Dai Li create anchors for people's memories," she explained. "Something that they will encounter every day which is supposed to reinforce whatever it is they're supposed to believe."

"You were my anchor," Zuko said. "I overheard you talking to Azula. You said-"

"I wanted something she'd believe!" snapped Mai. "Something that she wouldn't claim was me being weak!"

"Mai-"

"When we spar, it's amazing, Zuko," Mai said, talking right over whatever he might have said. Not that Zuko had even the faintest idea of what he _should_ have been saying. "I want you, but not at the cost of everything that makes you who you are," she told him. "These memories, the false ones, they've changed you." Her eyes searched his face for a long moment, then Mai stepped forward, swiftly, and kissed him.

It was familiar, and it felt good. For a moment, Zuko felt the pain in his head fade, his arms slipping around Mai's waist. Just as suddenly as it began, it was over, and Mai was on the other side of the room. "When everything is over," she told him. "When you're . . . when you can remember everything, remember that too."

She took a breath and opened her mouth to shout, when a guard barged into the room. "Miss, there's a riot going on. I'm here to protect you."

Zuko was pretty sure that, if he hadn't had such a stunning headache, he would have been on the floor laughing at the thought that Mai needed protection. As it was, while Mai got into an argument with the idiot, Zuko pulled himself together and bent fire at the guard's feet, pushing him aside and giving him the chance to make a break for it.

Racing out of the building and into the main complex, Zuko ran past the brawling prisoners, half-hoping this was Sokka's plan, and half-hoping that it wasn't. This much chaos was just asking for trouble, really.

The further he got from Mai, the more the pain receded, and Zuko felt almost himself as he used a guard's own momentum against him to race the final few steps up to where Sokka and Hakoda were waiting. It also turned out that Sokka had not, in fact, thought his plan through completely. Suki took matters into her own hands, and Zuko watched, impressed.

"That's some girl," Hakoda commented.

"Tell me about it," Sokka replied.

A small part of Zuko just wanted things to go back to something he could recognise as normal. The whole conversation with Mai had unsettled him, and he found himself saying, "My ex would have looked hotter doing that." Which was kind of true.

Sokka shot him a sideways look. "You mean the one that tried to kill us?"

"Just you," Zuko told him. "I'm pretty sure I'd be fine. She seemed more interested in making out just now."

"What!" the other two chorused.

"Mai's here, and if she's here, so are my sister and Ty Lee," Zuko told them. "We'd better be prepared for anything."

Hakoda shook his head. "In my day, we tried not to go out with girls that had tried to kill us."

Sokka grinned at Zuko, and they chorused, "Must have been dull."

Something seemed to settle into place in Zuko's head, and suddenly it was like a whole section of his memory cleared. There was Sokka, covered in pentapus sucker marks, covered in mud, snuggling with his idiotic pet Boomerang, saying dumb things and being a brilliant tactician. It was all there, and Zuko sighed in relief as Suki arrived, Mai's uncle in tow.

With their hostage they made it out to the gondola, Zuko barely managed to get onto it before he was caught by the guards, and they they all stood gasping for a moment, just catching their breath. That was when Hakoda spotted Azula and Ty Lee.

Zuko found himself on the roof with an angry Suki. He was dimly aware of Suki taking on Ty Lee and quite possibly winning, but he was stuck facing his sister and he couldn't afford any more of his concentration to be spent on the other fight, save to avoid getting in Suki's way, or having her get in his way.

Azula was furious. "Why!" she demanded. "We could be great, brother! We could have the whole world bow down to us!" She seemed on the verge of tears through her anger. "Please, Zuko. Come home. I miss you, big brother." For a moment, Zuko felt torn. He'd missed her. He'd missed the four-year-old girl who looked up to her big brother and wanted him to show her firebending tricks. With one sentence, Azula destroyed all the progress she'd just made. "We'll destroy the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes together."

"Azula, that's crazy," Zuko snapped. "Why would I ever trust someone that took away my memories and played with my mind the way you did?"

They fought, raging across the top of the gondola, Zuko finding techniques and tricks that he didn't have a clue where they'd come from. All he knew was that they were giving him an edge over his sister that he couldn't remember ever having. Suddenly, Azula and Ty Lee's attention. They were gone and Zuko saw the guards sawing at the cables. Knowing it might be their only chance, he flung a hand into the air, sending up a signal flare in the shape of a flying bison. He could only hope Shuga was able to get his message.

The gondola began to lurch as the cables gave way. That was when Shuga arrived. "Let's go!" Zuko shouted leading the way onto her back. Within moments they were in the air, already flying from the scene. Zuko resolutely turned his back on all of it. He couldn't remember much of the others, but he knew Sokka was his friend and he wasn't going to forget that again.

Now he just had to get through his introduction to Hakoda. "Dad," Sokka said eagerly, "I want you to meet Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and the guy who's gonna teach Aang how to firebend."

Hakoda shot his son a narrow-eyed look. "The last I'd heard, before this, he'd turned on you. What's to prevent it happening again?"

"I will swear on whatever you need me to that I will never betray the Avatar and his friends again," Zuko said, feeling a little desperate. He hung his head. "I know I did a terrible thing – ow!"

Sokka had hit him. "What did I tell you about stupid thoughts?"

"You said you'd kick me," Zuko told him irritably. "That's the second time you've hit me in the head, which never helps the migraines and what stupid thing was I thinking anyhow?"

Sokka sighed. "That it's your fault the Dai Li made you think you were your sister's lapdog, moron."

"When we're off of Shuga, I'm going to make you pay for that," Zuko said. "It's not my fault in that way, but I still tried to hurt Katara and I was the one who ran the takeover of Ba Sing Se."

Sokka blinked. "I thought Azula-"

"She was . . . indisposed." Zuko said.

Sokka just stared at him intently.

"Okay, she and Aiko were fighting and it got . . . stupid. So I knocked them both out," Zuko admitted.

Eyebrows raised, Sokka asked, "How did _that_ fight get . . . stupid?"

"I don't think I'd ever imagined Azula, or Aiko, as a hair-puller," Zuko said. He shook his head. "When they started clawing at each other's clothes, I knew I had to do something."

"Their clothes were coming _off_?" Sokka asked, eyes wide. When Zuko nodded, he said, "Wow. That's . . . that's gonna be good dreams right there."

"Why is that?" Hakoda asked his son.

Sokka grinned. "You met Aiko, she looks exactly like Azula. Mmmm twins," he mumbled, letting his eyes close. Then he squawked as Suki hit him and started berating him about thinking about other girls like that around her.

"Ew," said Zuko. "Sokka! You don't get to say anything about me, Katara and the tiger seal thing after making me think about my sisters like that."

Hakoda's voice made his blood chill. "You, Katara and what tiger seal thing?"

Zuko turned to face the imposing warrior.

"Meep."


	10. Forgiveness

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I don't even know. This is a version of The Southern Raiders, leaving out the bulk of the episode for the usual reasons. That is, we all know what happened, and there wasn't any significant difference, so I'm just letting that all go. As always, I prefer bracketing with humour over with angst, so the whole killing the Fire Lord argument will happen, but not in this instalment. Having said all that, this feels a little schizophrenic to me, and I just hope the transitions and everything work for those of your reading. Thanks, as always, for your patience.

* * *

Hakoda had cheerfully grilled Zuko within an inch of his life, leaving the prince sweating and on the verge of beating Sokka to a pulp just to stop him smirking. During a break in the process, Zuko had told Suki, "If you have anyone on Kyoshi who will do this to Sokka, I expect you to hand the details over now so I can make sure to get him for this."

Suki just snickered. "Lee, trust me when I tell you this is all your fault for bringing it up while your girlfriend's father is standing next to you."

"I'm damaged," Zuko protested. "Shouldn't my memory loss and trauma count for something, here?"

"Now you sound like Sokka," she told him. "Oh look, here comes Hakoda."

"See if I don't find some way to make him go after you," Zuko threatened her.

The evil woman just laughed at him.

Amazingly, Hakoda wasn't planning to grill him more. "What are we going to do with him?" he asked, jerking a thumb at the warden.

Zuko frowned for a moment, then an evil grin crossed his face. "Tell everyone to buckle on those straps," he said, pointing at them. "Just don't strap in the warden." He had already tied the man into the straps designed for a quick drop and safe release.

Hakoda shot him a stern look. "You are not going to kill-"

"No, I'm not going to kill Mai's uncle," Zuko snapped. "Trust me. Shuga knows what she's doing."

"Shuga?" Hakoda asked, but was distracted from closer questioning by the sight of his son hogging all the straps with a queasy look on his face.

Zuko climbed up to Shuga's head, twisted the straps around his waist and told her, "I need you to throw the warden off at the next village, okay?"

Shuga rumbled her understanding and turned into a steep dive. From behind him, Zuko heard the others suddenly make panicking sounds. As they hurtled towards the square, Shuga turned, flying sideways, did a little shimmy and sent the warden into a carefully calculated roll, his progress slowed and controlled. Zuko tugged the release and they all watched the warden hit the ground, rolling to a stop and start yelling his anger at the rough treatment.

They were already arcing around, dodging the enterprising couple of Fire Nation soldiers that tried to hit them, one with a thrown spear, the other with fireballs. Shuga whirled in the air, aiming a blast of air at the rest of the company and sending them flying before they could try more. Another barrel roll and they were on their way.

"Good girl," Zuko crooned to her, scratching at the top of her head in reward. "I owe you a basket of moon peaches."

He unhooked himself and tried not to smirk at the pale faces of the rest of Shuga's passengers.

"I hate you," Sokka told him conversationally as he undid his straps.

Zuko shrugged. "Shuga and I have always done stunt flying," he said. "It's not like I was able to use the gliders."

They were interrupted by Hakoda. "Interesting," was the only thing he said before he renewed his interrogation of Zuko on all matters Katara. Somehow, Zuko couldn't shake the feeling it had something to do with what he'd just put all the others through.

Landing at the temple sparked a tearful familial reunion, applause from the others for the surgical strike, and an irate Toph declaring that her potential future husband owed her food. "Stop calling me that," Zuko groused at her.

"You're the one who didn't actually say no when my parents tried to sell me off to you," Toph told him. "So that's what you are until I say otherwise. So if you're not giving me food," she said, twisting a foot and causing the earth under him to trip him, sending Zuko to his knees, "Then you will be my ostrich horse, Weepy."

Before he could say anything, she was clinging to his back like a leech. "Giddyup, Weepy."

"You're really pushing it, Flower Petal," Zuko groused as he tried to pry her off. He didn't have much luck. She had a grip like a Momo on something shiny. With a sigh, Zuko plodded off, heading straight for the baths where he could hopefully make Toph let go.

She may not have been able to see without her feet on the ground, but she had an impeccable sense of direction and knew the minute he'd made the turn. "You go back right now!" she yelled in his ear.

"What's wrong, Flower?" Zuko asked her, "You scared?"

"No. You're not tricking me into a bath!" she shouted. However, Zuko had broken into a run the moment she cottoned onto his trick, and he was able to take a shallow dive into the pool of water, sending it everywhere, and soaking them both in the process. "You'll pay for that!" she told him.

The fight was on, and Zuko grinned happily as he blasted the rocks and boulders she threw at him. Hopping into the air, he tried hitting the ground to disorient her and maybe keep her from knowing where he landed.

The fight was just getting good when suddenly they were both frozen solid in blocks of ice. "What am I going to do with you?" Katara asked, clearly annoyed.

"Lemme at 'im!" Toph told her. "He got me _wet_!"

Zuko snorted, even as he melted the ice around himself, then sent a sharply controlled lancet of fire at Toph's ice cage, cracking it around her and sending her to the ground with a bump. "You were getting kinda smelly anyhow-" he started to taunt her.

Katara interrupted before they could get going again. "What are you? Five?" She glared at them. "Sokka's more mature than this, and I can't believe I'm saying that about _Sokka_."

Zuko and Toph looked at each other, nodded, and then Katara was propelled into the air by a couple of the stones under her feet, and Zuko jumped, guiding his shrieking girlfriend into the water of the bathing pool. She retaliated for the dunking by waving her arms and using the pool water to sweep Toph in with them, and the same motion to knock Zuko over into the water again.

The next few minutes were filled with shouts and splashing. "I owe you for telling Dad about the tiger seal thing," Katara told him when they were finished and draped, panting, over the side of the pool.

"I'm sorry," Zuko said sincerely. "Sokka was making cracks about my sisters being in a fight and giving him good dreams and it just kind of came out." He sighed. "I just . . . I keep remembering things and then it just feels . . . normal to talk about them."

"Speaking of," Katara said with a smile. "I've been missing my tiger seal."

She looked beautiful, water dripping from her hair and down her face. Zuko felt almost like he was a passenger in his own body as he reached out a hand and cupped her face. The moment was shattered then. First by Toph, loudly saying, "I'm still here, you know," and by the sudden onset of memory.

"_You looked really pretty. Like you were a real noblewoman. You wear it well, you know," he told her. "I just . . . it was like instinct, okay?"_

"_Oh," she said in a small voice. Then, "You thought I looked pretty? Like a noblewoman pretty?"_

"_You always look pretty," Zuko said, exasperated with the whole production now. "You don't look any less pretty than noblewomen do, you just dress differently." He sat up enough so that he could glare down at her. "Can we stop this so at least _I_ can get some sleep?"_

"_You think I always look pretty?"_

"_One, I thought we went over this back at the Northern Temple. Yes, you're pretty. Two, I'm going to make you go away if you don't start with being quiet so I can sleep," Zuko told her._

_She settled back down._

_Although he could have sworn her heard her mumble, "You think I'm pretty."_

"Are you okay?" Katara asked.

Zuko put a hand to his head, pressing against his temple there. "Sorry. Just . . . remembering." He essayed a smile. "You really do always look pretty."

Toph made a noise of disgust and said, "First you both trick me into a bath, then you ignore me. I'm gonna tell your Dad," she said to the waterbender.

"Toph!" Katara shrieked, and then she was chasing after the laughing earthbender as the pair ran down the hallway. Zuko shook his head, watching Toph run off cackling and Katara chase after her, shouting that she'd scrub the other girl's feet down daily if she didn't stop. He hauled himself out of the pool and steamed the water away, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to restart his bending lessons with Aang.

For a few days, everything was peaceful. Zuko trained Aang in firebending in the mornings, helped Katara with doing the washing afterwards, sparred with Sokka and Suki under Hakoda's watchful eye, bothered Shuga to keep her from letting Appa get fresh and when Toph was done training Aang, they'd get into a fight on some very thin pretext and Katara sigh in exasperation, stomping off to make dinner while the others placed bets.

Much later in the evening, just at sunset, after Katara had trained Aang a little further in waterbending, would come one of Zuko's favourite parts of this idyllic period. He and Katara would spar together. She was just as distracting to fight as his sister, but for totally different reasons. He loved to watch the way her body swayed with the movement of the water she was bending, and that little smile she always had drove him absolutely wild.

Still, despite her earlier statement about him playing tiger seal, Katara went out of her way sometimes to avoid him, and Zuko caught her looking at him more than once with an odd expression on her face. Obviously, he concluded, she was still angry with him about his betrayal. He was just glad she was giving him a chance to prove himself.

The idyllic period was shattered when they were woken by an attack from a war balloon. An attack by Azula in a war balloon. Zuko didn't even have to think as he took up a position near the front of the temple. The others were all rushing to the tunnel Toph had pointed out for use as an escape route. "What are you doing?" demanded Aang as he pulled Appa towards the tunnel.

"I'll hold them off," Zuko told him grimly. It was his fault they were in this mess, and it was his sister that was trying to kill them. It was his responsibility. "Go on!" he shouted, racing toward the front of the temple.

As he skidded to a halt near the edge of the cliff, Azula's warship pulled level and he saw his sister. She was crying. It was enough to stop Zuko dead in his tracks. "Why?" she demanded. Imperious as ever, sternly, sharply, but with a sort of desperation underlying it. "Zuko please," she said – begged. "I want you to come home. We can talk about this . . . about your . . . your problems with how the war is being conducted. You can help me with how we'll make things better after we destroy the last of the resistance of the other nations."

"You still don't understand," Zuko snapped. "You lied to me. You've always lied to me. How could I trust anything you said, even if I agreed with what you and our father want to do?"

"I love you Zuko," she said. "And I'm so sorry I have to do this."

The battle was joined. Zuko fought, across the top of the warship, his red fire clashing with her blue. She was still better than he was. Azula was having to work for the victory, something he'd never felt like he was managing before, but she was still winning. Even with his cross-bending bag of tricks, he was barely holding his own. In desperation, he said, "It doesn't have to be this way, Azula. You could come with us, help us stop our father from killing hundreds of innocent people!"

"I will not stop the destiny of our family and the Fire Nation!" she shouted back. "Zuko, you _are_ everything I could want for a brother, just let this ridiculous moralising go!"

He dove and rolled, coming up behind her, getting in a hit. "What about Aiko? What about our sister? She has a lover in the Earth Kingdom. Do you want to break her heart?" he demanded. It was a desperate ploy.

It failed. "If she would only admit how much like us she is," Azula told him, her words followed by a series of palm strikes that he could do nothing about but block defensively. "If she would just admit it, she could join us. Think of the firestorm we could create together." Her eyes were crazed.

"I'm sorry," Zuko honestly told her. "I can't let you do this."

"Neither can I."

The fire they sent at each other built and built in intensity, suddenly exploding and sending both of them flying backwards off the airship in opposite directions.

Then he was falling. He saw Appa coming closer, diving and trying to catch up to him, Katara reaching out of the saddle for his hand. Shuga came up out of nowhere, catching him on her back and spinning around in the air to aim an air slice with her tail at the ship before zipping past Appa with what sounded like a taunting rumble.

"Shuga, you are the best bison ever," Zuko told her sincerely. A few hours later they landed and Appa was on top of Shuga and grooming her in moments. Zuko sighed as he got off and unclipped her saddle. "I should take it back. Were you just showing off for Appa?"

She harrumphed at him and aimed big dewy bison eyes at Appa. Zuko stalked off in disgust to join the others. Aang was looking impressed. "I've never seen a bison do that," Aang told him.

Zuko smiled proudly despite his pique. "Shuga's the best acrobatic flyer in the herd," he said. "We used to practice together. She doesn't have the same endurance other bisons do, but I wouldn't want any other mount in a firefight."

"A firefight," Aang said, looking shocked. "Bisons are for travel and-"

Zuko shook his head. "Not anymore," he told Aang. "I may be only remembering bits and pieces, but I know that the Cheng Dhu enclave bred and trained ours for surviving burn-outs. That means speed and agility." Aang looked despondent.

"Everything's just so _different_," he said, sadly. "I'm glad you're okay, though, Zuko."

"It'll be okay, Aang," Zuko said, trying to be bracing. He knew he wasn't good at comfort. "It may not be the same, but I think we've gained some things as well as lost them."

Finally, the normally cheery and even-tempered boy snapped. "What do you know about it?" he demanded. "I get told I'm the Avatar, I leave just for a bit, and the next thing I know it's a hundred years later and no one even knows when the festival of the south winds is and how to make a good egg tart. All my friends are gone except Bumi and the Fire Nation is trying to kill everyone!" Aang was glaring at them all impartially by then. "And everyone thinks I should just get over the fact that everything I know is gone!"

"We don't think that," Zuko said, trying to calm the boy down. "It's just that you're having trouble accepting that things aren't the same-"

"What do you know about it!" Aang interrupted.

That just got Zuko's ire up. "What do you mean, Aang?" he sneered, unable to help himself. "What do I know about finding out that everything I thought was true was a lie? What do I know about not knowing what's happening and wanting things to be the way they were because at least then I knew where I stood and what was going on?" He stepped up to Aang, deliberately using his height to loom in a way that he hoped was intimidating. "It's not like I just found out that my sister _took away my memories_."

"Stop it!" Katara shouted. "Both of you!" She thrust herself between them. Then she turned to glare at Zuko. "You may not have had a good time, but Aang's lost his _whole world._' She poked her finger into his chest on the last two words. "So just stop it."

"Katara," Sokka tried to pull her back. "Don't you think you're being a little unreasonable here?"

Katara made a sound that was half growl, half shriek of frustration, threw her hands in the air and stormed off. Zuko had a sinking feeling she wasn't over her anger at his betrayal yet, so he followed her, hoping to work things out. "Katara-"

"Just go away," she said. She was balled up near the end of the cliff, and she'd clearly been crying.

He knelt down, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

"No," Katara snapped. She pulled away. Zuko tried not to let it show how much that hurt. "My dad's gone, thanks to the Fire Nation . . . thanks to _your sister_, and I don't even know if I'll ever see him again." She turned around and snarled, her eyes fiery, "Why do you people keep taking away my family. First my mother, now my dad, how long until it's Sokka?"

Zuko flinched away and practically fled. He thought he might have heard her calling after him, but he couldn't face her. Clearly she wasn't going to forgive him any time soon, and maybe she'd always thought he was as bad as the rest of them. It hurt a lot. Just like . . .

"_Your father's bad blood comes out in you in so many ways. A little light teasing and you're screaming your head off."_

"_Mother-"_

"_What did I tell you about calling me that?"_

"_Lady Ursa. I-" _

"_Instead of three wonderful children, I get Aiko and a pair of _firebenders_."_

"_Even though you're a faithless firebender, I expect you to learn this one thing. The enclave is first in your regard. Always."_

"_He's not _family_," Ursa replied, honestly baffled. "He's a firebender."_

With a muffled sob, Zuko felt his knees give out and he collapsed to the ground, vaguely grateful that, at least, no one was there to see his shameful display.

Even that was taken away a moment later when Toph rounded the bend, and promptly plopped down next to him. "Zuko? What happened? Did Sweetness-"

Desperately controlling the hitching of his breath, Zuko replied, "No. It's just . . . I just got the memories from my mother back," he told her, trying to keep his voice steady. "My head hurts a lot."

"I'm sorry," Toph told him, "Now what else? You're hiding something. And don't try to tell me you're not," she cut him off. "I'll know if you're lying."

Hoping she wouldn't push any more, Zuko said, "It . . . why wasn't I good enough for her?" he asked rhetorically. "I did everything she asked and it was never enough."

Toph sighed. "I don't know. Parents can be dumb," she told him. "I mean, I played the part of the little highbred princess, I did my lessons and everything, and they never even wanted to _look_ at me."

Underneath her usual bravado, Zuko heard the same feelings he'd always had. Why wasn't their best enough? "I don't know, Toph. You're probably right that they're dumb." He pulled her against him, taking comfort in someone else who understood what it was like. After a few moments, he felt steady enough again to pull them back onto familiar ground. "So, Flower Petal, delicate little princess, huh? Bet you weren't as stinky back then."

She looked up at him with a combination of smirk and outrage. "I'll stinky you," she told him, and the fight was on.

When they came back into the camp a little while later, Sokka asked, "Do you two have to do that every time we leave you alone?"

Katara didn't say anything, and Zuko felt his good mood slip a little as he realised how much he'd been relying on everything going back to normal. She was avoiding looking at him, and all he could do was try to shrug off the hurt. They settled in for supper, and Zuko apologised to Aang, who apologised back and things seemed to be okay again in most corners.

Except for Katara.

Zuko thought about things, and realised there might well be only one way to get back into Katara's good graces. He made his way to Sokka's tent, and after having an odd conversation with Suki finally got in to see his friend.

To see far more of his friend than he wanted.

"Oh!" Zuko turned around and covered his eyes. "Sokka, really? Is Suki falling for that?"

There was a rustling, then Sokka's irritated voice said, "If you hadn't just waltzed in, you wouldn't have seen it." Zuko turned around as Sokka added, "What do you mean, is Suki falling for that?"

"The rose in the mouth thing," Zuko told him. "You did remember to cut the thorns off before you did that?"

"Huh," Sokka said, looking down at the flower. "So that's what that was."

Zuko made a sound of disgust.

"What do you want anyways?" asked Sokka. He peered at Zuko. "What's wrong now? I swear, you're like a girl."

"I need to ask you about . . . about how your mother died," Zuko told him, killing whatever lightness the moment had. What followed was a horrible story, and Zuko left afterwards, barely aware of Suki darting into the tent behind him. If there was anything he could do to prove to Katara he wasn't like the rest of them, that he was a _good_ firebender, this would be it.

It didn't take long to convince her, to get them both packed up to leave and to start loading Shuga up to take them off to track down the Southern Raiders. In the argument with Aang that followed, Zuko kept a tight lid on what he said, because he knew that if he wasn't careful, he'd wind up letting on that he was trying to buy Katara's forgiveness with vengeance.

After Katara's act of mercy they simply didn't have enough time to get back to the others. They had to stop for the night. In silence, they set up camp. It was after they'd both laid out their sleeping rolls that Zuko couldn't stand it anymore. The question burst out of him. "Am I forgiven?"

"What?" Katara stared.

A dam burst. "For betraying you. For being the reason Aang nearly died, for . . . for leading my sister straight to us so that we had to run and your father-"

She looked at him, her face horrified. "Oh, Zuko!" she interrupted. "No. I didn't . . . you did this because of . . . I'm so sorry!" Katara finished, crying. She flung herself at him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry I took it out on you. I didn't mean it."

"What?" Zuko asked. Despite his shock, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She smelled good and felt right, pressed against him.

Katara spoke into his chest, her voice slightly muffled. "I felt so _guilty_," she explained. "I should have known that you'd never turn on us, and then I couldn't heal you and I shouldn't have said those things to you because you've been nothing but wonderful and I'm so _sorry_."

"You have no reason to feel guilty," Zuko told her.

"Neither do you," Katara replied pertly. Then she pulled away a little, and said, "So . . . would you like to take up tiger seal duty again tonight?"

Share a bedroll with his beautiful girlfriend with whom he'd finally resolved all their issues? "Absolutely."

Soon they were curled up together in Zuko's bedroll, and he finally had the chance to do what he'd been wanting to for days. He kissed her. There was the briefest pause, then Katara's arms slipped around his neck and Zuko sighed happily as the kiss deepened and intensified. A sudden rumbling from Shuga startled them both out of their amorous clinch. "Shuga?" Katara asked, sitting up to look at the bison.

Shuga groaned again and rolled onto her side. Zuko's eyes widened as he took in the slight bulge in her belly and the now-protruding teats on his bison. "Shuga!" he howled. "I told you and Appa, no calves!"

Katara giggled and patted him on the back in a way she probably intended to be comforting as he sputtered his indignation.


	11. The Ember Island Players

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I want you to know I will be up all night finishing my work for the day because of this. Oh yes, I'm telling you all now, I happen to love the Lion Turtle. I can see why people think it's a cop-out, but I have certain biases about turtles that mean I am for them generally. I say, if a super-spirit-turtle tells Aang something, Aang should listen. But that's neither here nor there with this. I think the ending here is a little bit abrupt, but it's kind of where I want it to be. Also, the thing about where the Ember Island Players got their information from at the end of this? Totally my working theory about the play in both canon and this fic.

* * *

Zuko spent a good half hour reading the riot act to Appa about have gotten Shuga knocked up at such a dangerous time. After about ten minutes he heard Aang and Katara muttering together about how adorable sky bisons were and how babies were a source of light and hope in dark times.

He ignored them loftily and continued with his rant.

Twenty minutes in and Toph and Sokka were sitting together, laughing at his distress, while Katara and Aang were discussing the logistics of Appa parenting his children while Shuga would be earthbound at the nearest enclave they could find.

He continued, determined to impress upon Appa that what the bisons had done was _wrong._

At the end of the half hour, Suki showed up, took one look at him, and asked, "What are you? Shuga's father?" When he turned to glare around at them all impartially, she added, "Are you pouting?"

He actually was, too. That was so embarrassing that Zuko just stomped off in a huff as a bid to save his dignity. Not that it worked, since he could hear the others laughing at him all the way to his room. As he lay on his bed, feeling his heart sink and knowing that Shuga was leaving him, he saw her head through his window. She rumbled inquiringly.

"Go away," he groused. "I know you're just . . . you're going to go and raise your babies and I'll never see you again because you'll be too busy with the little Appas to spend any time with me."

Agilely, she stuck her tongue through the window and managed to lick him. Then glared and rumbled in the demanding way that meant she wanted him outside, now.

"You can't make me," he told her.

"No," Aang said, "But I can."

"Aang-"

"No." Aang said. "Listen. I know that you're hurt, and that you don't want Shuga to go. She's your friend, I get that. But things change. If there's one thing all this has taught me, it's that things change."

Zuko sighed. "I'm sorry about before, Aang. I didn't mean to belittle what you've gone through. I can't imagine what it must be like to wake up and discover you've just missed a hundred years."

The airbender sat on the edge of his bed. "It's okay. I mean, at least I know everything I remember was real. You're still trying to figure out what actually happened."

Swinging his legs around, Zuko joined Aang on the side of the bed. "I can't remember what happened, just that . . . I just remember that Shuga was the _only_ friend I had for so long, I don't know what I'll do when she's back with whichever enclave we take her to before the eclipse."

"I'd been hoping not to think about it," Aang admitted.

"I can imagine," Zuko said sympathetically. "Killing is never easy."

Eyes wide, Aang suddenly stared at him. "Killing? What are you talking about?"

The prince raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Uh . . . my father? Fire Lord Ozai? The man planning to take over the world by fire and force ring any bells?"

"But," Aang said, looking worried, "I just thought we'd . . . I dunno, capture him and put him in prison or something. Kill him?"

A sudden headache threatening, Zuko said, "Aang, we can't leave him alive to cause trouble. He's a very powerful bender, and there are a lot of people in the Fire Nation would rally behind the cause of the imprisoned rightful ruler." Aang shook his head stubbornly, and Zuko continued. "Think about it. With him as a focus, it wouldn't matter what we told people, they would ignore that and focus on the fact that a bunch of foreigners and the former prince had invaded and deposed their king."

"But, he's doing bad things," Aang protested. "If we just explained to everyone-"

Zuko interrupted. "Told them that everything they've been raised to believe is a lie? Tell them that the people they believe to be savages and monsters, the people who they've repeatedly been told are trying to destroy them and their way of life have chosen their king for them? Tell them that the man who has sat on the throne and made sure to protect them from the invading forces of the animals from the Water Tribes and the barbarians from the Earth Kingdom is now being imprisoned by those same savages? Tell me Aang, who is going to listen to any explanations you want to make?"

Aang flinched. "They really believe that?"

"Yes," Zuko said firmly. "As long as there is a rallying point, they will ignore anything we do or say. And there's going to be a mess to sort out once the war is over too. It'll be years before the Fire Nation has anything close to its current prosperity."

The Avatar shook his head. "I can't believe," he started. Then he stopped and sighed. "I guess I can. The things they teach in the schools . . . they're all like that, aren't they?"

Zuko nodded, then frowned. "How do you know about what they teach in the common schools?"

That led to Aang cheerfully telling him a story about being caught and forced to attend school because he'd been mistaken for one of the students. He'd just gotten to the part about Sokka and Katara having to pretend to be his parents when Toph joined up and declared, "Yeah. And Sokka and Katara told everyone their names were Wang and Sapphire Fire."

It took a moment for Zuko to process this, and then he was on the floor, howling with laughter. The sound brought in the others. By then, Toph and Aang were looking a little baffled at their friend's hysterics. "What's so funny?" demanded Sokka.

"You . . . Katara . . . _Wang and Sapphire Fire_!" Zuko managed to get out between bouts of laughter. He took a deep breath, controlling himself and said, "There's a popular set of scrolls out there in the Fire Nation. They're very . . . explicit. It's about a married couple and they're named . . . well . . . And there are some really . . . with the . . . pictures . . ." He burst into a fresh round of laughter.

Suki looked at Sokka. A grin began to play around her lips. "Wang Fire, huh? I wonder how many girls are aware of how your 'wang' does . . . fire." She joined Zuko in his hysterics on the floor.

The siblings both turned bright red and stomped off muttering, while Aang blushed and fled, most likely to Appa. Toph stuck around, grinning at them. "So Suki, _does_ Sokka's wang fire?"

That stopped Suki cold. "I . . . uh . . ."

Toph wasn't done yet either. "The real question is whether Katara's gotten around to testing Zuko's . . . firing capabilities."

Zuko and Suki shared a look, and sprang at Toph. Together they picked her up and carted her off down the beach and tossed her into the water. "I was wondering," Zuko asked her, "I haven't had a good chance to practice recently. Would you like to spar?" He plucked his swords off his back where he now kept them all the time.

"Sounds like a plan," Suki told him, and they marched off, ignoring Toph's sputtered threats.

The sparring was fun, and Katara joined Zuko in his bed that night. She even let him tempt her into a few kisses, but she snuggled down and refused any more after that. He wryly admitted that, if she wasn't ready to go any further, it was for the best neither of them got worked up to begin with. He still woke up the next morning rather worked up, but he wouldn't trade that for anything.

The next afternoon, he was teaching Aang, Katara was watching (and he hoped she was leering at him, because if she was leering at Aang, he'd have a lot to say on the matter), Toph was stomping about, muttering about sand, bending and blurry things were and Suki and Sokka were doing something. Zuko really didn't want to know what. He was even less happy about it when they showed up cheerfully waving a poster around.

Zuko made a face. "My Mother used to take us to see them. They butchered 'Love Amongst the Dragons' every year."

That got everyone's attention. "Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves ?" Katara asked.

Sokka turned to Zuko. "Are you . . . I mean, would it upset you if we went?"

"Only inasmuch as they're a terrible company of players," Zuko told him.

That just perked Sokka right back up again. "Come on, a day at the theatre . This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing."

And it was decided.

They settled into the theatre and Zuko decided that, if the Ember Island Players lived up to everything he remembered about them, he was going to try to talk Katara into necking with him in the dark instead of watching. To that precise purpose, he deliberately tried to steer her to the back and into a corner. It didn't work.

The play started and the onstage Katara wore a fascinating parody of traditional Water Tribe wear that involved a low-cut top and thigh-high slits in the skirt. "I do not sound like that," Katara grumbled in response to the onstage version of her's speechifying.

Zuko glanced at the woman – women, actually, now that the 'Avatar' had joined in the show – onstage, and told her, "Don't worry about it. Although I'd bet you'd look better in her costume than she does."

She shot him a look. "Am I supposed to be flattered?"

"Yes?" Zuko replied. "Ow," he added as she hit him.

Zuko watched until all of a sudden, a parody of him stood in the prow of a ship, declaiming on the need to capture the Avatar to reclaim his honour. He turned to Katara, asking quietly, "Did that happen? At all?"

"No," she muttered back. "I mean, they sort of got the part at the beginning right, I mean, where I accidentally found Aang, but the other stuff, no. "

"_She always does this," moaned Sokka. "It's how we found Aang. She made the glacier explode and just decided to rescue the weird guy with the tattoos who showed up in a big glowy ball of ice."_

"_Seriously?" Zuko asked._

"_If my sister weren't crazy, the avatar would still be locked up in a glacier," Sokka affirmed._

Zuko hissed as a raft of memories wrenched themselves into place in his head. Katara and Aang both looked at him in concern. "Are you okay?" they chorused quietly.

"Yeah," Zuko murmured back. "I just . . . I think the play's helping me remember. Sort of."

Immediately a soft glow erupted around Katara's hand and she slipped it up to rest on the back of his neck. "Better?"

"Yeah," Zuko told her, smiling a little.

Sokka's outraged voice hissed from behind them, "Katara! Do you want to get us caught?"

She stopped. "Thanks," Zuko leaned back to tell Sokka. "Now she's been told without being mad at me."

Katara hit him, somehow managed to whack Sokka on the shin too, and then pouted as Suki and Aang snickered.

The incident with the pirates happened and Sokka, Katara and Aang all expressed confusion and disbelief about it. "Where's Zhao?" Sokka groused. "He was the one following us."

Zuko glanced at his girlfriend who had suddenly quietened down. "Maybe whoever gave them the information was trying to make Zuko seem faithful to the Fire Nation for some reason," she said.

"Propaganda," Zuko added, nodding as it suddenly made sense. "I don't know yet what they're doing, but I have a feeling this is partly to paint me in a particular light."

"Is this more of your big picture, fancy-pants, rich people, boring stuff?" Sokka asked.

Rolling their eyes, Katara and Zuko quietly chorused, "Yes," just in time to watch Stage Katara's dramatic scene with Stage Jet. The flooded village that had never actually happened was treated as a testament to the carelessness, stupidity and general badness of the Avatar and friends.

_They ranged back and forth, Zuko managing to get Jet to lose one of his hooked swords, so they were both working with half a set. Then Zuko stumbled on a stone, Jet got in a lucky strike that sent Zuko stumbling back, accidentally kicking his own fallen blade over the edge of the cliff._

_If the swords hadn't been so important to him, if they'd been just another set of weapons, Zuko wouldn't have done it. If it hadn't been such a sore point with him all the things his own family had done to the world, he wouldn't have done it. If he hadn't spent the last day being shunned on Jet's orders he wouldn't have done it. It was one thing too many, though, and Zuko whipped around, the form of his roundhouse kick perfect, and sent an arc of fire into the other teen._

Zuko felt himself lurch again. The missing memories placing themselves back in their proper places like one of his uncle's pai sho games. Gaps were filled, rearranged, and suddenly he could see the pattern of those memories laid out. Whereas before he'd been having to work through his memories of Sokka to figure out what must have been happening at any given time, now he could recall the timeline.

During the scenes at the Northern Tribe, however, he was forced to clap both hands over his mouth and rush from the theatre. Down the hall and outside, he was on his knees, clutching at his head, feeling the sensation of the fire against his skin all over again.

When he finally no longer felt like he was dying, Zuko found his head in Katara's lap, Sokka hastily explaining to all and sundry that his poor friend suffered from a terrible illness that gave him painful fits and Suki and Aang were trying to wave people off. It worked and Zuko managed to pull away and lean his back against the wall. "I'm sorry," he said to them. "I just . . . I remembered, at the Northern Tribe, my face . . ." He trailed off.

Sokka was on his knees beside Zuko a moment later. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously. "I mean, I remember you screaming when Zhao dragged you into the Oasis. If that was anything close to that, I can't even imagine how bad this had to have been."

Zuko smiled at the best friend he'd ever had. "I'm okay now. I think we'd better go back in," he told them. "I don't know how or why this is working, and I don't care. It's clearing up a lot of things. Like the enclave at the Northern Tribe."

Aang smiled a little tremulously. "Do you think they'll like me a little better now that I get why they don't remember any Nomad traditions?" Aang asked.

"I think the girls would love to have someone teach them bending," Zuko said, sighing. "Of all the things they had to pick up from the Tribe, they had to pick up that silly prohibition against girls fighting."

Suki's eyes went wide. "Prohibition against girls fighting?" She turned to Sokka. "Is this why you were such a jerk when we met?"

Katara took his arm, giving him a little support without it looking like she was doing it, while Aang took Zuko's other side, giving him another subtle bit of support. They followed Sokka back in, watching him be harangued by Suki and Toph the whole way. They got back to their seats just in time for the start of the next act.

"What about Omashu?" grumbled Sokka, "I was brilliant."

In spite of his headache, Zuko snickered. "That was fun."

Aang smiled hesitantly. "It _was_ kind of neat."

"Boys," Katara muttered.

Suki and Toph turned to look at them. Well, Suki turned and looked, Toph just turned. "What are you talking about?"

"Pentapox," Zuko chorused with Sokka. "Shang's mother was the most annoyed shambling dead person I could ever imagine."

"Really?" Sokka asked.

"Mm-hmm. Probably the only one to ever mutter she was going to box everyone ears."

Sokka grinned back at him while Katara made more disgusted noises.

"This you gotta tell me," Toph said.

Then their attention was pulled to the stage where a hulking great man stood, apparently filling in for Toph's role. "My name is Toph because it sounds like tough. And that's just what I am," declared Stage Toph.

"I bet he smells as bad as you do, Flower Petal," Zuko told her. "Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, was that how you beat the Boulder? You stank him into submission?"

"When we're back outside I'm gonna beat _you_ so hard," Toph snapped back, "Your grandkid's'll feel it, Weepy."

"Bring it on girly-girl," Zuko muttered back.

Katara tried to mock Toph's actor, but, as Zuko had thought, the earthbender thought it was the best casting ever.

Even as the action on stage seemed to only partially follow what had actually happened, Zuko felt his memories returning. The meetings with his sister and mother reclaimed their space, pushing away his false memories of empty days in the palace, endless daily cycles of waking, training and failing to improve, constant belittlement from his father and the pervasive loneliness of it all.

Now memories of Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph supporting him as his mother tried to make him feel like a monster all over again. The warmth he'd felt when Katara had threatened Aiko if she so much as looked at him wrongly. All those hours, days and weeks of friendship, support and confidence made those false memories disappear like the nightmares they were.

The scene in the cavern made him cringe though. That _was_ what had happened in a way. Katara had been looking at him, happy to see him, expecting his support and help. After everything she and the others had done for him, all the things he could now remember, he had turned on them and helped the sister who had never done anything for him but mock him, lie to him and try to make him into less than he was.

The curtain came down, and he took himself and his headache out of the theatre to get some air. As he sat there, Suki joined him. "You smell? They really don't think much of your language skills, do they?"

"Ha. Ha."

Sokka leaned against the wall on his other side. "You're not really impressing me with your skills of elocution right now."

"Why would I try?" Zuko asked, shooting a weak grin at his friend. "I'm not sure you'd understand all the big words as it is."

Sokka's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to show you how much I understand later. Me and my space sword'll be showing you that."

"Hey," Toph said, arms crossed over her chest. "I get first dibs on Weepy here."

"No fair," Sokka whined. "You guys're always exhausted when you're done trying to kill each other. I wanna fair turn."

Suki looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you whining?"

"No," pouted Sokka.

"Yes," Toph and Zuko denied at the same time.

Suddenly Sokka perked up. He turned to Suki. "Suki, what are the chances you can get me backstage ? I got some jokes I want to give to the actor me."

"I'm an elite warrior who's trained for many years in the art of stealth. I think I can get you backstage."

The pair sauntered off.

"Jeez," Toph said. "Everyone's getting so upset about their characters. Even you seem more down than usual and that's saying something."

He sighed. "You don't get it. It's different for you. You get a muscley version of yourself taking down ten bad guys at once and making sassy remarks."

"Yeah, that's pretty great."

"But for me, it takes the mistakes I've made and shoves them back in my face. My uncle, all of you. You were all there for me. My uncle taught me so much, Sokka, Katara and Aang chose to be my friends, Aiko was finally willing to _be_ my sister and you're like the sister I wish Azula was. How do I repay you all? With a knife in the back. It's my greatest regret and I may never get to redeem myself." His head drooped in shame. "Ow!"

She'd hit him. "I'm taking the Water Tribe route here, Weepy. I'm gonna hit you until you stop saying stupid things."

"Toph-"

"No," she said very definitely. "You'd been brainwashed by the Dai Li, and the moment you knew you left them and came back. You haven't done anything wrong and the fact is, you broke into the unbreakable-out-of prison with Sokka to get his and Katara's Dad back out, not to mention taking Katara on that stupid trip to kill that guy that you didn't even kill. You did all that to make up for something you didn't need to make up for."

"But – ow!"

"No buts," Toph warned him, then pulled him to his feet.

A young boy, dressed up as Aang came running by just then. "Wheeeeeeee!" he yelled, clearly pretending he was an airbender.

"That's just so weird," Zuko said, watching the kid. "Why do people dress up for these things?"

"Who knows?" Toph said dismissively, dragging him back to their seats. "Now come on. Do you want to miss whatever else they've done wrong?"

They joined Sokka and Suki, and Zuko found himself being regaled with the stories of what he'd missed, including Sokka's brief apprenticeship to Piandao. "Really?" he asked Sokka in surprise. "He only takes on the best. I'm really sorry I missed that, but I'm glad you had the chance."

"Yeah," Sokka said. "I mean, Dad had started training me to be one of the Tribe's warriors, but when he left, there wasn't anyone else to teach me." He looked at Zuko. "I want to thank you, by the way. I mean, you're not Piandao, but if you hadn't been there, I'm not sure I'd've been good enough to get his attention to start with."

Zuko shook his head. "You had the potential, Sokka," he said. "Anyhow, I know exactly how you feel. It's how I felt when I finally got those last advanced lessons from Jeong Jeong."

"Like you could finally call yourself a proper . . . well, warrior's not the word, but-"

"Yeah. I finally started to feel like I could maybe call myself a master bender someday."

"Yeah."

They turned back to the play just as Katara and Aang got back, and Sokka quickly filled Katara in on where they were.

Soon enough they were at what could be termed the present, and the play wasn't over. Zuko shook his head in disbelief over the actor pretending to be his father and the stilted dialogue as the Stage Ozai went to face Stage Aang, and Stage Azula went her way to fight Stage Zuko. When he went out, screaming about honour, Zuko shook his head. "Now I get it."

Katara's voice was a little grim and a little ironic from beside him as she said, "So that's what happens to traitors to the Fire Nation? They get burned to death by Princess Azula?"

"Apparently."

Then Stage Ozai defeated Stage Aang, and the audience roared to their feet to applaud the Fire Nation's final dominion over the world.

They all left, shaking their heads over the mind-numbing awfulness of the play, its players and the whole experience. Well, Toph was enjoying her reputation as a hulking great beast of a man, and her good mood eventually infected the others.

It was much later that evening, Zuko pulled Suki aside. "There's too much that they knew that they shouldn't have," he told her. "I'm going back tonight to see if I can find out who their source was."

Suki raised an eyebrow, then asked, "Are you asking me to come along?"

Zuko nodded. "They're just players, but I don't want to take any chances, and I'd rather a warrior who's trained for many years in the art of stealth to have my back." He shot her a small smile.

"Flattery will get you everywhere. I'll meet you back here in a minute or two."

They snuck into the offices the company kept all their documents, plays, scripts, and other papers in. Sure enough, Zuko found what he was looking for. "I was right," he told Suki once they'd gotten out. "My father commissioned it. It's got enough truth in it to seem real, and enough lies in it to make him and the rest of the Fire Nation nobility look good."

Suki nodded. "He _would_ have the resources to find out what happened, too."

"Exactly."

They made their way back to the vacation house, Suki going to climb into bed with Sokka, while Zuko headed to his room to find Katara waiting for him. "Hi," she said. "I've been waiting for my stuffed tiger seal."

Zuko slipped into bed, carefully manoeuvring so that she wouldn't think to kiss him. The whole thing felt awkward now. He could remember everything, and the one thing that was clear to him was that he'd been effectively forcing himself on her for weeks now, ever since he'd rejoined them. Katara had been treating him as a platonic friend, and he'd been pressing her for something she might not have ever felt.

Promising himself he'd talk to her soon, Zuko settled down to sleep.

He still wasn't able to stop himself from kissing the top of her head though.


	12. The Old Masters

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: I think the consecutive nature of those final four episodes of the third season are throwing off my ability to chapter this properly. I stopped it when I did because otherwise the chapter would have just kept on going, and I had to put a halt to things. Anyhow, as we are now coming into the home stretch on this fic, I wanted to begin collecting requests for my next project. Those will be one-shots of other peoples' PoVs from Airbender's Child. That is, if you want to know what Katara was thinking in X scene, or what was going on in another scene that Zuko wasn't there for, let me know. I can't promise to honour every request, but I will do what I can. Here's hoping I have enough here that you'll all feel the wait was worth it.

* * *

In spite of all Zuko's good intentions, talking to Katara was soon pushed to the side. There was helping Sokka and Suki spar, because two-on-one fights were very different from one-on-one sparring, and his two swords created a very different kind of opponent for either of them to fight. There was helping Katara with the day-to-day running of the camp, which didn't help his resolve to step away from her until he was sure she felt the same way he did. He didn't get to talk to her, because every time they were alone, save at night snuggled into his or her bedroll too exhausted to even think about anything but sleeping, someone waltzed in. It was also, unfortunately clear that this wasn't plotting, so much as the general ineptitude of their group with keeping themselves clean, organised and fed.

Then there was his most important job, grooming Aang to kill his father. Zuko did everything he could. He tried to cultivate anger and hate in his friend, which didn't work because he knew better than anyone else the lessons in tolerance and understanding he'd given Aang while they were on the road. All that talk about how the Fire Nation wasn't a faceless single evil entity and that everyone has reasons for doing the things they do, good or bad, meant Aang couldn't see past the (theoretical) good that had to be somewhere in Ozai's heart (such as it was).

He tried to get Aang to a point of resignation on it. That this was a single culling for the sake of the many. All that got him was a philosophical argument about how Aang could name himself judge, jury and executioner and where was the line to be drawn as regards justice?

Zuko lost that argument, but he'd always hated those things because they never factored in immediacy and need. Arguments which also didn't seem to hold any appeal for Aang. He tried to point out that Aang had killed before at the North Pole, which was promptly countered with, "That was the Ocean Spirit in command of my body. Are you going to blame me for what I did when someone else was controlling me?"

"I'll happily take the blame for everything I did while my memories were gone if it'll get you to kill my – the Fire Lord," Zuko offered.

Aang had shot him a narrow-eyed look. "You can't even stop thinking of him as your father. He's your _family_-"

"No more than I am to my mother," Zuko replied. "Just because I'm a sad and pathetic person who can't let go of my childhood doesn't mean you should let that affect what you need to do."

Nothing.

At the top of Zuko's personal list, however, was Shuga. The stunt flying she'd done to get them to the Boiling Rock and back was the last she'd be doing for a while. His beloved first and best friend was too heavily gravid to be carrying passengers, and while it would be many months before she actually gave birth, he had to get her back to an enclave where there would be trained bison healers and a herd for her.

It had been another exhausting lesson, and while Aang's grasp of firebending was never going to get better save by either experience or the tutelage of a greater bender than Zuko, it had been another failure to get Aang to feel up to killing. Zuko had even deliberately tried to get Aang to kill bugs with his firebending, to see if he could steel the kid's spine. Aang had just frozen up instead.

He was sprawled out, he and Aang having apologised to each other for their failures, and Zuko an extra time for being so horrible to Aang. That was when Katara interrupted, Suki did away with any pretenses at urgency and Sokka was just plain obnoxious, setting up a beach party. Zuko was furious as it took ten minutes flat for the others to turn into a bunch of irresponsible teenagers. Didn't they understand how important this was?

He saw red, and it wasn't until Aang blasted him off the roof and into a tree that his anger eased up enough for him to try speaking. Katara demanded, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you! How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away!" The others all stared at him as though he'd told them the moon was made of green cheese. An image of a sculpture of Yue, made entirely of green cheese flashed through Zuko's mind then, and he had to hastily shove the thought away, aware that now wasn't the time to think like Sokka on a bad day. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" he demanded irritably.

Aang stepped forward looking sheepish. "Well . . . about Sozin's Comet. You see, I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came."

Zuko's jaw dropped open. "I . . . but . . . _you're going to let him destroy the entire Earth Kingdom in a rain of fire because you're not ready?_" he asked, incredulous.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Sokka sharply.

"I _told_ you about it," Zuko said. "I . . ." He trailed off. The others were looking at him in various attitudes of disbelief. "I didn't?"

"No." Katara told him, her arms folded over his chest. "You didn't. I'm assuming you forgot?"

Now he felt really dumb. Especially since he might have been sitting on the thing that would convince Aang to kill Ozai. "It was the morning of the day I found out that Azula had taken my memories. There was a council of war and I was there, watching, when fa – the Fire Lord took Azula's suggestion to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. That's what their plan is." He took another deep breath and clarified. "They're going to use the power of the comet to amplify their power and create a firestorm on the ground. It'll make what happened outside Hei Bai's village look like child's play."

Katara had softened as he spoke, and said, "So that's why you've been so . . . crazy. Okay. So we have to find a way to get Aang to the point where he can kill the Fire Lord. This has to be stopped."

Zuko ran his hands through his hair, trying to let some air in and cool himself down a little. "We also have to get Shuga to an enclave soon. She's getting too gravid to stick around, and I'd rather she was around an experienced bison midwife."

The conversation was interrupted by a dragon hawk winging its way to Sokka. "Hawky!" cried Sokka ecstatically, reaching for the bird. "You're heaaawwwwwk!" The creature was clamping its talons into the other boy's hair. Sokka ran around screaming and flailing his arms until Suki and Aang managed to tackle him and pry it loose.

"Hawky?" Zuko asked him.

Sokka glared. "What's wrong with that?"

"You named a hawk, Hawky?"

"When he was six," Katara added helpfully, "He named his stuffed tiger seal 'Sealy'."

"You're not going to make fun of Mr. Wiggles Sealy the second," Sokka warned his sister.

Toph had joined Zuko in watching this, while Aang and Suki were detaching the message from the hawk. "The second?" Toph asked, "What happened to the first?"

"There was no first," Katara told them from underneath her brother as he tried to stuff sand down her back and she tried to stick seaweed into his pants. "Sokka just wanted it to sound sophisticated."

"This from the girl who named her dolly Asha Princess Warrior Avatar Champion Embroiderer," Sokka sneered. Then he yelped because his distraction cost him in terms of icky beach things in his shorts.

Zuko turned a little to Toph. "So how are you enjoying our entertainments this fine evening, Lady Bei Fong?"

"I do believe that this comedy, while somewhat gauche, has much value, despite its somewhat plebeian dialogue," Toph replied, creating to chairs with a gesture. They sat down together watching Sokka run around in circles, wailing because a crab had pinched him in the rear before it got out, and Aang run around similarly to avoid Hawky. Suki was chasing the bird, while Katara was scrabbling at her back, shrieking about snakes and if Sokka had gotten one into her shirt, she was going to drown him.

Eventually Momo and Appa intervened with Hawky and Katara and Sokka staggered back, covered in bits of beach, having apparently worked through their differences somehow.

The Water siblings glared at the pair comfortably seated and making idle chatter about the quality of the 'entertainment'. They humphed in unison and plopped down on the sand together, sibling solidarity in the face of Zuko and Toph's meanness. Suki opened the message and said, "It's from your dad, Sokka. He says that everyone's gathered at Ba Sing Se to make another try at opening up the city."

Sokka snatched up the letter and scanned it rapidly. "It also says Iroh's there," he added.

"Then why don't we go?" Katara asked. "I know the comet is soon, but Iroh may have some ideas about how to get Aang to . . . well . . ."

When she trailed off, Aang said, somewhat bitterly, "How to turn me into a killer?"

Zuko sighed, choosing not to touch that. He didn't seem likely to succeed at it soon, and, "Not to mention that we know where the enclave near there is, so taking Shuga there'll be convenient."

So it was decided, and they loaded Appa up, all of them climbing aboard, so as not to burden Shuga. The flight was fairly straightforward, as was the process of leaving Shuga at the Ba Sing Se enclave. Then they flew out to find a large encampment close to the city. When they landed, they found themselves greeted by some familiar faces.

"Well, look who's here," King Bumi said. Zuko didn't even bother paying attention to him. The crazy old man wouldn't be insulted, and he was far happier to have a chance to see, "Master Jeong Jeong," Zuko found himself grinning at the man who had completed his education in bending.

Toph and Suki looked perplexed. "You know these people?" Suki asked at the same time Toph stated, "What's going on? We're surrounded by old people."

As Katara made the introductions, Zuko hurried to Jeong Jeong's side. "I have so much to tell you," he said. "I learned some firebending along the way since I last saw you, you will not believe."

His mentor raised an eyebrow. "Really? What is this that you've learned?"

"Dragons, Master," Zuko told him. "I got to learn bending from the dragons themselves. It was . . ." he trailed off, shaking his head. He could still remember his teacher's fears and self-hatred about his bending. To be able to gift the man with the chance to understand the creative nature of firebending, the lifegiving force that it could be if you let it, was something Zuko wanted to do so very badly. For all that he might have to talk his way around the Sun Warriors and their demand of an oath of silence, Jeong Jeong deserved to know.

Then something caught his attention. "Sokka, seriously? Gran-Pakku? Why don't you just wear a sign that says, 'I want to embarrass everyone,'?"

Sokka waved a hand at him. "Shpff. I'm not embarrassing anybody," he said.

"Just yourself, Snoozles," Toph told him.

"How do you all know each other?" Sokka asked, ignoring Toph.

Bumi grinned that annoyingly smug-yet-crazy grin of his, and said, "All old people know each other. Don't you know that?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, but stayed silent on the matter. He turned to Jeong Jeong. "That was how you knew Uncle had been looking for me."

The man smiled. "It was. I must admit, I was somewhat concerned when I was forced to write your uncle and tell him of your confrontation with Zhao, and then I was unable to keep you with me. He made quite a stir when he caught up with me, demanding to know where you were."

Pakku decided to throw in his opinion then. "So what reason did you have for abandoning the Avatar and your uncle a second time?" the waterbender demanded.

Zuko found himself being kicked in the shin and punched on the arm at the same time almost before Pakku had finished speaking, "Ow! I get it, okay? Not my fault. Seriously, that hurts!"

"Just making sure," Sokka told him cheerfully. "I mean, it's not like reason was getting through to you."

He sighed and turned to Pakku who looked as though he didn't know whether to be amused, confused or still angry with Zuko. "Azula had the Dai Li brainwash me," he explained, deciding to stick to the facts. "I honestly couldn't remember what had actually happened for . . . practically my whole life." He sighed. "It was only a couple days ago that all my memories came back."

Sokka threw a companionable arm over Zuko's shoulders, "So this idiot decided that it was his fault his sister's crazy and evil."

"It _is_ my –" he didn't get to finish, because Sokka spoke right over him, turning to Piandao. "Master Piandao, meet the guy who made sure I wasn't completely useless when I finally got to meet you."

Zuko felt himself flush. "Sokka, all my teachers said I was a prodigy. That doesn't usually mean someone's a good teacher."

"But you _are_," chorused Aang and Sokka.

Piandao, the greatest living master of the sword in the Fire Islands, smiled slightly and said, "I'd be very interested in sparring with you sometime, your Highness. Sokka credits your teaching for the bulk of his skills. I would enjoy the opportunity to judge that for myself."

Suki butted in. "I have to admit, I'd like a crack at sparring with the best the Fire Nation has to offer myself."

"This is Suki, the leader of the warriors of Kyoshi," Zuko said, trying to make up for the complete lack of anything resembling polite behaviour going on. In the background he could hear Katara chatting a mile a minute at Pakku, and Toph had latched onto King Bumi. Somehow he managed to wriggle away from the centre of discussion between Piandao, Sokka and Suki. He shot a quick glance at Jeong Jeong, but there was one thing he had to do before he gave in to his eagerness to discuss bending with his master.

"Toph, your Majesty," Zuko said as he fell into step with them. He knew he was butting in where he wasn't wanted, but he just had to be sure. "How are things going? Have you managed to insult the king of Omashu yet?"

Toph grinned at him. "He's pretty awesome for an old guy. I mean, he can't metalbend like me, but I wanna learn how to bend by making faces at Snoozles."

"Okay, but if you ever need someone to set that stupid hair of his on fire," Zuko said, aiming a not-too-subtle warning at the crazy old man, "You just let me know."

For a brief moment, the mask of madness fell away, and Bumi shot Zuko a speculative but sympathetic look. "I always thought there was more to you." Then the moment was gone. "Next time you're in Omashu, I'll have to make sure to get you locked up in my rock candy again. That burned sugar was tasty!"

He made a face and left Toph to making ever-more-disgusting jokes with the man. Finally he caught up to Jeong Jeong again. "I have so much to tell you," he said eagerly. "I promised I wouldn't tell anyone where I learned it or from who, but . . . just let me tell you about the Dancing Dragon form."

"Dancing Dragon?" Jeong Jeong asked. "I have never heard of this."

"The form celebrates the lifegiving power of fire," Zuko said.

His face falling into a look of confusion, Jeong Jeong said, "I do not understand. Fire is destruction and fury. It takes life, it does not give it."

"A being of the Spirit World once told me, 'fire is the energy that drives the world. Without fire, there would be no life, because all life requires that spark of energy and warmth to live.' Of the four elements, fire is the element that creates drive and ambition. Without that, we would all lie down and wait to die." He smiled a little at the dumbfounded look on his mentor's face. "It's not entirely a bad thing."

Jeong Jeong's face was a study in concentration. "We take our power from the sun," he murmured.

"It is the sun that calls the flowers to bloom, that warms the earth and changes winter to spring," Zuko replied. "Fire is inborn in us _because_ it is the spark that feeds and creates life, not the wildfires that destroy everything in their path."

He was suddenly pulled into a fervent embrace. "Thank you," Jeong Jeong told him.

"Hey! Are you comin' Weepy?" Toph demanded. "Some of us wanna see Iroh again."

"My uncle _is_ here?" Zuko asked Jeong Jeong.

An arm went around his shoulders. "Come, Zuko," Jeong Jeong told him. "I will take you to him."

The others had all clattered on ahead, and Zuko came up to them, seeing his uncle surrounded by his clamouring friends, all of whom were eagerly informing the old general that his nephew had not meant to betray them.

"Remember when we got you out? They'd done something to Jet, it made him forget there was even a war," Katara was eagerly telling the man. She seemed particularly determined that Iroh know his nephew wasn't at fault for his behaviour.

Toph added her piece. "So now, whenever he says something stupid, like it's all his fault Azula took over Ba Sing Se, we hit him. Like this!" She suited action to words, and Zuko wasn't able to get out of the way of the flying rock.

"Ow!"

"Miss Toph," Iroh said disapprovingly. Then he turned to Zuko. "I am most relieved, Nephew."

This was it then, Zuko thought. It had been one dishonourable action too many and his uncle was simply glad to know Zuko wasn't a traitor. His face didn't reveal anything, and Zuko controlled himself. He'd earned this rejection. "I'm relieved you are not angry, Uncle," he said. "I just wish I hadn't disappointed you - ow!" That was Suki's fans as wielded by Sokka. "Stop hitting me!" What had been intended as a formal bow of apology turned first into an upright, indignant glare, and then he was dragged by strong arms against an ample belly. "Whu-"

"I am so proud of you, Nephew," Iroh murmured into his ear.

"Uncle?" Zuko was horrified to hear his voice crack and tremble. "You're not . . . I thought-"

"You're dumb!" Toph sang out from his other side.

"Shush, it's sweet," Katara told her reprovingly.

Toph just snorted. "He's being dumb," she repeated. "It's pretty obvious Iroh'd be happy to see him."

Zuko turned his head just enough to aim, and breathed fire at her. "Zuko!" exclaimed his uncle, letting him go. "That is no way to treat a young lady."

"And I'd never treat Katara that way," Zuko said. "Toph, on the other hand . . ."

Katara collared them both before the fight could start. "I don't know what's wrong with both of you that you think fighting helps with reunions, but you're not going to do it right now."

_Later_, they mouthed at each other behind her back. At the sight of an eagerly gesticulating Aang, however, Zuko was reminded of something important. "Uncle, can I talk to you for a minute, alone?"

"Of course, Prince Zuko," his uncle said, allowing him to manoeuvre them away from the others. "What is it you wish to speak to me of?"

He sighed, then shook his head a little to focus his thoughts. "It's about Aang. He's . . ." Zuko shook his head again, his hands opening in a gesture of helplessness. "I hate asking him to do this, especially since he hates killing so much that he won't even eat meat, but he's pretty much refused to kill the Fire Lord."

His uncle frowned gravely and seemed to give this serious thought. "You have reminded him of the things that my brother will do if allowed the freedom to do whatever he wishes?"

"Yes," Zuko told him. "I've also told him what will happen if we simply imprison the Fire Lord, how all the common people will respond to having their sovereign removed and merely imprisoned by the so-called Water Savages and Earth Barbarians."

"Not to mention that he is too crafty to be left merely locked away," his uncle added. "You have mentioned all these things and he still cannot bring himself to kill my brother?"

"No," Zuko said. "I was hoping you might talk to him. You might . . . know the right words. He respects you, in a way he doesn't Pakku or Master Jeong Jeong." Suddenly Zuko realised something. "How do you know Pakku, anyhow? Or Bumi?"

"This is something best told to you at the same time as your friends," Iroh said. "So shall we rejoin-"

He was cut off by Aang's angry voice. "No! I won't do it! All life is sacred and I won't just kill someone because you think it would be too inconvenient to keep him from escaping from prison! There has to be another way!" he shouted. He seemed to vanish, but the sudden dust cloud he kicked up made it clear he'd run off. Momo chittered and took to the air after his master, leaving an annoyed Sokka and Toph, a resigned-looking Katara, and Suki just looking baffled.

"What happened?" Zuko asked as he and his uncle hurried over. Pakku was looking supremely disgruntled.

"Did you know the Avatar has been refusing to do his duty?" the waterbending master demanded.

Before he could say anything, Katara glared at the man. "I told you to wait until Iroh talked to him. What part of, 'You're not helping,' did you not understand?" she snapped.

"You sound like your grandmother," Pakku evaded with a fond smile.

Katara shot him a narrow-eyed look and started muttering about how she now knew why her gran had run away from the Northern Tribe.

Iroh sighed, and said, "I suppose all we can do now is wait until he comes back."

"And make plans to stop Ozai from torching everything that isn't the Fire Nation," Sokka added.

"That is grave news which you have brought," Piandao said as he joined their group, followed by Bumi and a few other elderly people. "We must arrange a strategy in order to stop the Fire Lord's plan."

"And to retake Ba Sing Se," Iroh added with a heavy sigh.

"But hadn't the Dai Li taken the city for themselves?" Sokka asked. "I mean, we have to get those jerks out of power there, but can't that wait?"

Iroh sadly shook his head. "They have deceived the members of the Fire Nation troops stationed there, convincing them that the city remains under Fire Nation control. Those coming in and out of the city certainly believe it so."

"Great," Zuko chorused darkly with Sokka. Sokka continued. "So the city has to be retaken, especially just in case Aang can't beat the Fire Lord. Fantastic."

Quickly talk degenerated in strategy. Mostly, the others let Sokka and Suki speak on behalf of the group of teenagers that had been the Avatar's companions. Sokka was soon trading strange ideas with Iroh, Suki contributing as her training to lead the Warriors of Kyoshi included battle tactics and strategy. Katara, Pakku, Toph and Bumi all contributing in their own ways to the plans by letting the planners better understand the capabilities of the bending troops they would have to send out.

Zuko sat back. Although he could follow what was being said, his uncle was by far a better choice for strategy, and Sokka and Suki were far better for speaking on behalf of their group. He let his attention wander, and found himself being flagged by a familiar face. He let himself be edged back and out of the group, slipping away.

"Lee," he was greeted snidely.

Zuko suppressed an aggravated sigh. After so long of being treated like an intelligent person and a good bender, the attitude rankled. But how could Kyung know better. "It's been a while, Kyung."

"Yes, since you failed to save our enclave," the other sneered. "I suppose you're just as ignorant now of the importance of the place you lost in the palace as you were when you convinced that idiot Prince Zuko to get you both banished to protect _firebenders_."

Zuko stared levelly at the man, saying, "If you're talking about his plans to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground with the power of the comet, we already know." He wasn't going to dignify either of the slights to his character with a response. Not from the same jerk who had coined that awful rhyme implying that 'Lee' was so close to Shuga because he was in love with his bison.

It seemed to unnerve the other a little. "He's named that shrewish daughter of his Fire Lord, having declared himself the Pheonix King of the whole world." Kyung smirked. "Must cut deep to have a sister like that."

"What?" Zuko asked in utter disbelief. "He's just . . . No, I can believe that. It would be just like him to declare himself king of the world before he's even bothered to finish conquering it," he finished with a sigh.

Childishly, Kyung didn't let it go. "Of course not. Your whole family, save your lady mother and Aiko are flame-bearing monsters."

"I'm not," Zuko snapped back, reflexively.

Sensing he was making some progress, the airbender continued. "If your blood wasn't so thinned with firebending, maybe you wouldn't be so pathetically weak at it."

"Maybe if your blood wasn't so thickened with inbreeding, you wouldn't be so pathetically stupid," Zuko replied.

A quick gesture, and a small whirlwind cut through the air. It was something that he never would have been able to block without resorting to firebending before. Kyung was relying on Lee's weakness as he tried to get in the strike. His hands thrust forward, and Zuko blasted hot air into the path of the bending attack, meeting it force for force and dissipating it. Eyes wide, Kyung stammered a moment before regaining his smug attitude. "Just like a firebender. Stand in the way of danger instead of letting it go by."

Tired of the song and dance, tired of having to always play pathetic follower with the members of the now-destroyed Cheng Dhu enclave, Zuko demanded, "Has Azula been crowned yet, or is she still just the princess?"

The airbender looked annoyed that Zuko wasn't kowtowing to him anymore, but answered nonetheless. "The coronation is scheduled to go ahead during the comet, while the Fire Lord will take a fleet of his airships to decimate the mudbenders here."

Hissing in utter aggravation, Zuko said, "You know, you're as bad as he is. Earthbenders and the people of the Earth Kingdom are just as good and decent as airbenders."

Kyung shot him another sneer. "If you say so, Lee. All I care is that the monsters in power be destroyed so that maybe we can have a chance to prosper again. Hopefully we can destroy the line of Sozin forever. All it'll take is one little extra assassination attempt on the Fire Lord's brother and maybe we'll be rid of them for all time, especially since no one's heard from the prince since he was declared a traitor. He's probably managed to get himself killed all on his own."

He shot a nasty grin at Zuko, and sped towards where the planning was going on. "Kyung! You idiot! No!" He didn't even know where he found the skill, but desperation sent him bending fire through his hands and feet, propelling him into the air. It got Zuko the added burst of speed he needed to catch up and he tackled the speeding airbender just before the man reached his uncle.

The group who had been planning the invasion burst into shouts of alarm and shock. Zuko snarled as he got Kyung pinned. "There won't be any assassinations of the royal family today, Kyung," he told the man.

"Prince Zuko, what is this?" Iroh asked, clearly bewildered. A strangled and horrified noise escaped Kyung's lips.

Zuko just looked grimly at his friends and said, "I know Kyung from Cheng Dhu. He decided to pass along some information and then kill Uncle Iroh."

"You're the prince?" the man gasped, horrified. "Your lying, cheating, vile excuse for a mother lied to us!"

Sokka looked at the man dispassionately. "Do you suppose there's anyone who likes your mother once they find out how horrible she is?" he asked Zuko idly.

"Probably not," Zuko said shrugging. "She and father were well-matched, I think."

Toph had the man imprisoned in solid rock a moment later, and Sokka added a gag to silence him. He was unceremoniously dropped outside, and a few earthbenders were signalled over to cart him off somewhere.

Then Zuko went back to the more important information at hand. "They're going to be putting out a whole fleet of the airships."

"We had surmised as much," Piandao said. "It is a pity we do not have airbenders anymore to oppose them in the air and keep them from reaching land."

Sokka, Katara, Toph and Zuko all looked at each other, then Katara turned to Pakku. "Pakku, have you brought warriors from the tribe with you here?"

The man frowned at Katara, saying, "Yes, of course. I would not expect to hold the city with the few here from the Order."

"The Order?" chorused the teens.

Iroh stepped in. "The Order of the White Lotus is an ancient society, crossing the boundaries of the four nations, dedicated to philosophy, beauty and truth." He looked regretful. "For the past century we have had no members of air, and I fear we never will again."

Katara, Sokka and Toph all turned and just _looked_ at Zuko. "I'm going, okay? Stop looking at me like that." They just kept looking. "I can't wait until I'm not the go-between anymore," he grumbled as he left them all behind again, searching through the Water encampment for a familiar face from that enclave.

He didn't have to go far, in fact, because Yanto, the leader of the Northern Tribe's enclave was with the army waiting beside the walls of the city. "Yanto," Zuko greeted the man with a nervous smile. "I need to talk to you. It's . . . important."

"What is it?" the man asked. "Unless . . ." something about the way he was looking at Zuko made the firebender feel he was being examined in some way beyond what eyesight could tell. "Allow me a short while to gather our people, and I will join you to speak on behalf of the people of air."

Zuko smiled a little. "You won't need to worry about bisons or gliders," he told the man with a grin. "We'll talk to the Ba Sing Se enclave, and the one near the Si Wong Desert. They're close enough on bison-back."

"Very well," Yanto told him. "I shall join you shortly. I have one question, though."

"Yes?"

"What has happened to Shuga?"

Zuko found himself pouting again despite his best efforts. "Appa got her in calf," he groused. "I told her and I told her not to let him do anything, and did she listen? No."

"Ah," was all the man would say. Then he walked off, snickering.

He went back to where the Order members were all looking a little annoyed with Zuko's friends for putting a stop to the planning. "Well?" Sokka asked.

"Yanto's here, and he said he'd bring the others along to join in the planning." He looked at Katara, "But we're going to need to take Appa out to the one at Si Wong as well as the one at Ba Sing Se. It's not like Yanto was expecting to need-"

"Indeed," Yanto had apparently gathered his people very quickly and he interrupted Zuko. "Perhaps it is time that we airbenders worked together again to take back our place in the world and truly return the balance."

At the jaws dropped all around, Zuko snickered. Then he drew himself up and said, "Uncle, Master Jeong Jeong, Master Pakku, Master Piandao, King Bumi, this is the leader of the Northern Water Tribe's airbender enclave, Yanto."

"Airbender?" chorused Pakku and Jeong Jeong. His uncle looked dumbfounded only a moment, before smiling proudly at his nephew. Zuko could keep himself from blushing at the implicit praise. Bumi, however, cackled.

"You're a clever one, boy!" He grinned conspiratorially at Zuko. "I knew they couldn't all have gotten themselves done away with."

Zuko ignored the crazy man. Bumi just made him nervous. "Yanto, I need to apologise for lying to you before. I'm not an airbender. My mother, Fire Lady Ursa, is an airbender, and was one of the most highly ranked in the Cheng Dhu enclave, but I'm told I take after my father more. My name is Zuko."

"The banished prince," Yanto said, musingly. "But how did you manage to airbend if you are neither airbender nor Avatar?"

"Hot air rises," Sokka said.

"I beg your pardon, young man?" Yanto said, confused.

Sokka repeated himself. "Hot air. It rises and expands. It's how the airships work. It's why smoke floats upward. Zuko heated the air, which made it move. He was also moving the heat that's _in_ the air."

"Like my metalbending or Katara's bloodbending!" Toph said. "Taking the bits of something you _can_ bend, and using it to bend the rest."

Katara looked a little sick, and Zuko wrapped an arm around her shoulders, whispering into her ear, "It's okay." He couldn't stop himself from smiling as she leaned into him, though.

Jeong Jeong shook his head in wonder. "This is where you learnt to bend air as you taught me," he said. "By pretending to be one of the airbenders." He smiled proudly. "You invented this on your own and convinced airbenders that you were one of them. I am even more glad to have had the teaching of you, Prince Zuko."

He was fairly certain that if he received any more praise, his face would turn permanently red. He grabbed Katara's arm and said, "We have to go talk to Ling at Si Wong. Katara and I will take Appa if you'll talk to the Ba Sing Se enclave Sokka? I'm sure Yanto can get you in."

He towed Katara away with him, because all this praise was so utterly unexpected. How was he supposed to say anything without sounding either ungrateful or preening?

"You know, you could stay with your uncle for a while," Katara said.

"We don't have time," Zuko said. "Anyhow, I probably should tell mother-"

"Nothing," Katara said flatly. "Your sister did a great thing in distracting your . . . other sister from us getting away, but your mother's done nothing that needs you to deliver that personally. I'll tell her while you talk to Ling."

Knowing where they were going, Zuko was able to steer Appa straight to the enclave, hoping Ling would be as agreeable to exposing the secret of the airbenders as Yanto had been.

* * *

I'll bring Hakoda up at some point, I promise. I kinda forgot he'd written the letter by the time I'd written this to the end, so I'll patch that up next time.


	13. Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: Almost there . . . alllllllmost there . . . I just hope I can do justice to the finale. Thanks to everyone who's started giving me suggestions for my follow-up of one-shots of various PoVs from this series that _aren't_ Zuko. And at some point I'll finally be able to go back to goofy one-shots that don't require me to worry about continuity.

For all the Maiko, Kataang, and you-name-it 'shippers who are going to be disappointed by Zuko ending up with Katara, I apologise. It _was_ my intention from the outset, and if someone wants to rewrite this to have a Maiko or whatever-else-you-want ending I would be flattered if it happened. Thank you everyone for your patience. I'm sorry about the wait.

* * *

They spiralled in to land in the bottom of the old, dead volcano, hopping down off Appa. "Give me a hand with the saddle, Katara," he said. They made short work of the straps, and in that time a small crowd had gathered.

"Lee, Katara?" asked Chun, an earthbender they'd come to know in the brief time they'd stayed at that enclave. "Where's Aang?"

"Not here," Zuko said, repressing the urge to offer a more scathing summation of the boy's vanishing act because he couldn't man up to doing what needed to be done. "Actually, it's very important that we speak to the elders."

Katara seemingly felt no need to be circumspect. "The Fire Nation is planning to use the extra power afforded them by Sozin's Comet to burn the whole of the Earth Kingdoms to the ground."

"What?" snapped the former Fire Lady.

Katara deliberately turned her back to the woman and pulled Zuko to follow suit. She answered the question, but spoke as though the interruption hadn't happened. The sense that his mother's fuming gaze was almost burning into his back made Zuko feel twitchy.

"Sozin's Comet is coming and Fire Lord Ozai is planning to use the power of the comet to send out his troops to burn everything to the ground," Katara said. "The Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom forces and many expatriates of the Fire Nation have come together to stop this, to retake Ba Sing Se from the Dai Li and the Fire Nation, and to give Prince Zuko and the Avatar the best chance they can to take the throne away from Princess Azula and the Fire Lord."

From the gathered crowd, Ling stepped forward. "I can only assume you are asking the help of the airbenders," she said.

Zuko stepped forward now, the sense of his mother's gaze on his back intensifying. "We need bisons and gliders," he said. "The troops sent to destroy the Earth Kingdom will be on the new airships. We need flyers to disable them and stop them before they reach the land."

"So you want us to reveal ourselves to the world and bring the Fire Nation down on us-" his mother began to sneer.

He'd had enough. All those years of listening to her harangues about how he was selfish and inferior and he'd never seen just how selfish she was. He interrupted before she could go any further. "If the Fire Nation succeeds at burning down the whole of the Earth Kingdom to the ground, there won't be anything left for them to do a burnout on because there will be nothing here."

"This is just a Fire Nation plot, isn't it!" she shouted hysterically. "I should never have let you know about the enclaves, never have tried to convince a firebender to help me in protecting the airbenders!"

The crowd drew back from Zuko and Katara. Ever willing to step into the breach when a speech was needed, Katara instantly responded. "She's right. He is a firebender. In fact, he's the crown prince and the future Fire Lord."

"Katara," Zuko murmured out of the corner of his mouth. In that moment, he knew Sokka was right. Had always been right about this one thing. The waterbending girl from the South Pole really was crazy.

How sick was he that he thought it made her more attractive?

She also ignored his warning. "It's _because_ he was raised in part by airbenders that you can trust him to do what's right. Not just for you, but for the whole world. This isn't a Fire Nation plot, it's a plot by all four nations to return things to the balance!"

Then she elbowed him. "Say something!" she hissed. "When you're Fire Lord you'll have to give speeches, start talking."

Unfortunately, the pause was long enough for Ursa to take centre stage again. "The firebenders can't be trusted! Look what Sozin did to my grandfather, the Avatar Roku, himself!"

"What?" gaped Zuko.

"He betrayed him, he killed him! A man who was his best friend! I tell you Sozin's line should be destroyed!"

"Like Aiko, mother?" Zuko demanded. "She's as much Sozin's line as I am. More, maybe, considering how well she's been getting along with Azula."

Ursa staggered back, pale and shocked. "No. No, I taught her better than to associate with _firebenders_."

"I guess Thuan's influence was a little more powerful than yours." He hadn't even been aware he was crossing the space between them, was barely aware that this had become a matter of airing his family's dirty laundry in public. "You haven't met Thuan, but he's a nice Earth Kingdom nonbender. From the lower circle of the enclave at Ba Sing Se."

His mother let out a shriek of rage and then froze, as though seeking what to do next. Then she stormed off. Ling appeared from the crowd, her calming presence clearing them a path to meet with the enclave elders.

They were ushered into the presence of the leaders of that enclave and were greeted by the words, "What exactly is it that has happened?"

Katara elbowed him, and when he glanced at her, her gaze clearly read that she'd given the last speech, it was his turn. So he told them everything. He told them about the Fire Lord's plans, about the potential destruction of all of the Earth Kingdom and about Yanto's agreement to expose his own enclave members at Ba Sing Se. "If you don't wish to send your own people, we'll understand," Zuko said, stepping sharply on Katara's toes when she seemed about to protest that they most certainly would not understand. "But if you would supply the gliders and perhaps some bisons for the airbenders already there, it would be much appreciated."

Elder Hayato frowned contemplatively. "You say that the enclave of the Northern Water Tribe has chosen to reveal themselves?"

"Yes. Yanto felt that it was, perhaps, time for the fourth nation to retake its place with the other three." Zuko waited anxiously for the response. He had promised bisons and gliders to Yanto so that they could ensure a counterattack on the airships invading the Earth Kingdom. What good were the airbenders to be in the fight if they were not used to their best advantage?

Another of the elders spoke. "You are asking us to commit to exposing ourselves to the Fire Nation, as well as to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes," she said.

A hunter would never take a sabre-toothed moose-lion without taking a few risks. "You have already exposed yourselves to the Fire Nation," Zuko replied to her, raising his chin. "My mother may not be well-liked, but she remains the Fire Lady until such time as my father is deposed." He took a deep breath and continued. "And I remain the eldest son of the Fire Lord, the Crown Prince, Zuko, of the Fire Nation." He cupped his hands, allowing fire to bloom from his palms.

Gasps of shock went from one elder to the next. Elder Fung stood, outraged. "Are you threatening us?"

"No. Merely letting you know that you already are forced to trust that I am not betraying you." He could feel his hands beginning to shake and quickly dropped them to his sides, letting the fire go out. Hoping as he did so that no one had noticed. When Katara's comforting grip twined itself with his fingers, he amended the thought, hoping that no one but her had seen.

Elder Hayato gestured to the others for calm, finally forcing Elder Fung to sit down. "If we did not comply, what were you going to do?"

Zuko shrugged. "Hope that the enclave at Ba Sing Se was willing to lend us the help we need."

"Not your own enclave?" sneered Fung.

"My enclave is no more," Zuko replied with a sigh. "Those who are left _in_ the Fire Nation will be no help, as they have already sent an assassin after my uncle Iroh, who is a member of an ancient society meant to cross the boundaries of the elements."

"Your uncle Iroh," Elder Tien pointed out, "Is the same man who nearly conquered Ba Sing Se."

"His uncle protected the spirit of the moon from the depredations of Admiral Zhao of the Fire Nation. If it weren't for him, Yue might never have known she could replace the moon spirit and the Northern Water Tribe would be gone." Katara clearly couldn't stand waiting any longer to speak.

The council looked at each other, and then Hayato stood. "You will wait outside as we deliberate on these matters."

They turned to leave, but Zuko turned back briefly. "Deliberate quickly then," he warned them. "Sozin's Comet will be here in days only." Then he turned and strode out.

As he made his way down the hallway, suddenly Katara's voice cut through the racing thoughts in his mind. "Zuko, either slow down or let go of my hand!"

He stopped dead, suddenly realising his fingers were still tightly laced with Katara's. "I'm sorry," he said, unclenching his grip. She didn't let go.

"It's okay," Katara told him, her other hand slipping up to cup his cheek. "It's just that I don't walk as fast as you do."

Then they were standing, facing each other and Zuko found himself slowly leaning forward to kiss her. His lips were just barely brushing hers when he remembered his plan not to make any more assumptions until they'd spoken. He pulled away from her sharply, trying not to look like he was rejecting her. His whole plan was ruined as his heel came down on a pebble, which slid under his weight, sending him stumbling away from her in an attempt to maintain his balance. The whole debacle ended when he tripped over his own feet and landed on his behind against the opposite wall.

"Well if you didn't want me anymore you could have just _told_ me," Katara told him snappishly. Her tone was belied by the tears suddenly glistening in her eyes, and she whipped around, hurrying away.

"Oh no," Zuko moaned. "Katara! Wait!" He raced after her. She noticed and sped up. Soon he was sprinting after her, and they both bowled Ling over as she entered that particular hall.

Her arms snapping out with the kind of speed only an airbender could ever manage, she corralled them both. "What is going on here?"

Zuko didn't answer her, intent as he was on explaining himself to Katara. "It's not that . . . Katara please! Let me explain!"

"What's to explain?" she demanded. "You finally remembered that I'm Sokka's stupid little sister so you stopped being interested in me."

"No, that's not it!" Zuko said. "I mean, yes, remembering had to do with it, but it not-"

"Exactly! I remember you always telling Aang you thought I wasn't good girlfriend material," Katara interrupted.

"That's not the point!"

"That's exactly the point!"

"Both of you, stop it!" Ling shouted over them.

"Sorry Ling," they chorused sullenly.

"What happened?" Ling demanded. "Katara?"

Katara sighed, looking tearful again, and said, "I don't know. When Zuko first caught up with us, when he couldn't remember anything right, he kept on kissing me and acting like he wanted to be my boyfriend." She sighed shakily. "Then he got all his memories back, and all of a sudden he started avoiding me and just now, when I tried to kiss him, he made it pretty clear he didn't want anything to do with me."

"No, no, no!" Zuko tried. Ling silenced him with a stern look.

"So," said the airbender. "Zuko's seemed like he wanted to be with you, and then all of a sudden he changed his mind?"

"Yes," sniffed Katara.

"No!" Zuko said desperately. "Katara, when I couldn't remember everything, I thought we were . . . we were seeing each other. I remembered the uh . . . the tiger seal thing, and I could remember the couple of times we did kiss and when I called you pretty that time in Ba Sing Se. So I just assumed, since it made sense."

"Then what?" Katara asked. "You were so repulsed by me that when you remembered you didn't have to kiss me you just stopped?"

Zuko could have sworn he heard Ling mutter, "Teenagers," in tones of sheer disgust.

"No," Zuko pleaded with her to understand. "I just . . . I realised I'd been forcing myself on you," he said. "I meant to talk to you, to find out if you . . . you know, if you liked me like that. But then I didn't have a chance and I didn't want you to feel like you _had_ to kiss me or whatever, so I was trying to back up, and then I tripped on a rock or something-"

"So, you _do _want me to be your girlfriend?" Katara asked, cutting him off again.

"Yes," he told her. "You're smart and funny and you have the other half of the practicality that Sokka should have gotten and you're completely insane, but I think it's cute, spirits help me, and you're so beautiful-"

"Oh, Zuko," Katara flung herself at him, kissing him. Now Zuko was absolutely sure Ling was muttering something about teenagers and melodrama, but he really couldn't care less, because Katara was kissing him, her arms were around his neck and all that really mattered was that she wasn't angry at him and still liked him enough to let him clutch her close.

The sound of repeated throat-clearings got their attention. Eventually. Zuko surfaced from Katara to see a gathering of mostly amused-looking elders. Although Fung still looked like he'd bitten into something rotten. "We have made our decision. Prince Zuko," the man spoke pointedly as he addressed the prince by his name. "We will send you both benders, and the requested bisons and gliders."

Zuko sagged in relief. "Thank you. On behalf of the forces we have assembled at Ba Sing Se, thank you."

Things turned into whirlwind of action, and soon there was a contingent of bisons, loaded with airbenders and gliders heading for Ba Sing Se. Ling had decided to join Katara and Zuko on Appa. "So," she asked, "Where's Shuga?"

"She let this big lug get her in calf," Zuko said, still righteously angry with her for abandoning him like that.

Katara spoke at the same time however. "Shuga's gonna have a baby!" she squealed. "I bet it'll be the cutest bison calf ever!"

Ling took one look at Zuko's ire and burst into giggles that were most unlike her. In between the laughter, she forced out, "I expect you're right, Katara."

Zuko harrumphed and decided to ignore the mocking laughter at his expense. He muttered to Appa, "This is all your fault. You seduced Shuga, you know."

It really was kind of impressive how a bison managed to look smug from the back of its head.

They arrived back to the camp, to discover that a small number of airbenders from Ba Sing Se had apparently bucked the enclave's administration to join the forces around the city, and that Sokka had been busy organising strategies with both Zuko's uncle, and with-

"Dad!" Katara shouted as she raced past Zuko to cling to her father in a joyous reunion. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine," he told her with a smile. "I missed you and your brother, though. I'm glad you're safe."

Zuko found himself being dragged over to the warrior, and rather fervently wished Katara would let go of his hand so he'd be able to get at both of his swords if the man chose to take offense to the fact that Zuko was now involved with his only daughter. "Sir," he said, inclining his head respectfully.

"Zuko's my boyfriend now," Katara informed her father in no uncertain terms.

"Oh, really?" Hakoda asked, a menacing yet amused look on his face. The impression that he was going to enjoy breaking Zuko in two made the firebender feel rather nervous.

Katara didn't even notice. Or maybe she did and didn't care. After all, Hakoda wasn't likely to break _her_ in two. "Yes he is, and you're going to just have to get used to it."

"I don't see why he should," a familiar female voice spoke up behind them. "I truly fail to see how any decent father could want a firebending monster anywhere near his child."

Katara bristled immediately. "So speaks a woman who doesn't even love her own children."

He didn't want Katara getting into a fight with his mother. He wasn't sure what would happen, only that it could only turn out badly. "Katara, don't."

"That's right," Ursa sneered. "You need a girl to hide behind." Then she looked Katara and Hakoda up and down. "I suppose hiding behind a violent savage like they breed at the poles is good strategy."

Hakoda's nostrils flared, and for a moment, Zuko could see a rather powerful family resemblance between the man and his daughter. Sokka said Katara took after their mother, but Zuko noted the shared way the two stood, the similarity as they both squared off against his mother's affront. "Better to be a violent savage than a person who would sneer down at her own child that way," Hakoda replied with remarkable calm.

"Who says I'm hiding, Lady Ursa?" Zuko asked her. "Simply because I have won sufficient regard from Katara that she _wants_ to defend me from other people doesn't mean that I can't fight on my own behalf." Before she could sneer, he told her, "But I'm not going to fight with you, my Lady. You've made it perfectly clear that you only have one child, and that's Aiko. By everything you've ever said and done, you've made it clear that I mean nothing to you, so why don't you go and join the other airbenders and help defend the enclaves of the Earth Kingdom."

Zuko turned on his heel and stalked off. He felt . . . free. Ursa was shrieking and sputtering behind him, and he only felt a vague sense of regret rather than the pangs of loneliness and self-hatred he was so used to feeling. He suddenly realised Hakoda and Katara were bracketing him as he walked firmly away from his fuming mother. "I never thought I would see a firebender so cold," Hakoda commented. His idle tone didn't fool Zuko for a moment. The man was shocked by the whole display.

"She's a harpy," Katara told her father from Zuko's other side. Then she wrapped her arm with his and twined their fingers together. "I'm glad you did that for yourself," she told Zuko.

Glaring around Zuko at his youngest child, the chief said, "She's his _mother_, Katara."

Zuko stopped. If he and Katara were going to be . . . whatever they were right now, girlfriend and boyfriend, he had to reach an understanding with his girlfriend's father. "No, she's not," he told the older man firmly. "By her own admission, I'm not family, I'm a firebender."

"She said it, Dad," Katara added. "I mean it. I'm not even sure she thinks that Zuko's human."

Hakoda stopped, frowning at his daughter. "What do you mean?"

With that she was off. Zuko watched in awe as Katara spun a tale that made him both sound like a deeply injured person ("Katara, I _never_ cried."), as well as a great hero ("I was thirteen and I made a few order go missing. It's hardly heroic."), refused to let him get more than a word or two in edgewise ("Why did you just _hit_ me?") and finished with big dewy blue eyes that were an amazing coup de grace on the whole performance.

Zuko found himself exchanging glances with Hakoda. "It's factually correct," he offered the older man, whose expression was somewhere between impressed and doubting. Then he turned to Katara. "Did you do that when we landed on Kyoshi that first time?"

"Yes," Sokka said from behind him. "It's not really how I would have put things, though. What brought that on anyhow?"

"Zuko performed a one-person rite of exclusion," Katara told Sokka.

Sokka looked momentarily confused, then said, "Did you finally tell your mother off?"

"Yeah," Zuko said, shaking his head as he added, "I don't even know why she's here. I mean, she's the deadliest airbender I know, considering that Aang won't even think about killing people, but she's also very invested in the idea that her rank puts her above it all." Then he blinked and said, "What's a rite of exclusion?"

"It's when you kick someone out of the family and the tribe," Sokka said offhandedly. His father cleared his throat pointedly and Sokka looked suitably cowed at the man's stern glare.

"A rite of exclusion is a serious business," Hakoda informed Zuko. "Life is harsh at the poles, and those who have been excluded can find no home with anyone of the clan who is family within the second degree. That is, parents, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles, first cousins and grandparents. Anyone of the family caught sheltering an excluded member of the family is to be automatically added to that exclusion."

"Well, that's pretty bad," Zuko admitted, "But what's to stop them from just staying with a friend?"

"There's a lot of stigma to an exclusion," Sokka explained. "I told you before, family is everything."

They slowly began to make their way through the camp, Hakoda shaking his head in wonder as young airbending warriors could be seen in battles of one-upsmanship with young earthbenders, waterbenders and the few younger firebenders that were in the army. "In the Water Tribes," Hakoda clarified, "Someone who has done something so terrible that he or she must be excluded is usually a person that no one in the tribe would offer shelter to."

"In theory," Katara said acidly. "Don't think I haven't forgotten what was done to Ulloriaq after that Earth Kingdom merchant made her think he was going to marry her."

Hakoda shot her an irritated look. "I took her in, didn't I?"

"After Gran-gran made you," Katara retorted.

"_Just_ like your mother," Hakoda muttered under his breath. Zuko could see Katara loftily pretending to ignore him. "In the end, I am not sorry she chose to leave," he admitted. "It was uncomfortable for her and would have been worse for her son." He looked sideways at Katara.

Sokka let out a smothered snicker. His father looked at him, clearly trying to cow his son into silence, but it didn't work this time. "Dad's just glad she left because she wanted to find a place in the chief's igloo."

Katara blinked. "Was _that_ why she was always spilling things in his lap?"

"Katara!" chorused her two scandalised male relatives.

She ignored them. "I _have_ to try that with Zuko some time."

His mind caught up with what she was implying at the same moment the two Water Tribesmen turned towards him with murder in their eyes. "Meep."

Deciding that he'd had enough of trying to reach an understanding with Katara's father, Zuko hastily turned and sprinted off to where he knew his uncle was. He bounded up down and around the various practising benders and skidded to a halt before ducking into the man's tent and trying to put the various White Lotus members and their pai sho game between him and the entrance.

"Prince Zuko?" his uncle said, sounding rather bewildered.

Sokka's head appeared in the tent entrance, followed shortly by his father. "Really, you'll have to do better than that if you're going to hide from us," he told his friend.

"Hey, I didn't say _any_thing," Zuko protested. "Katara's the one making implications."

Hakoda shot him a Look, and said, "I still think we need to make sure you remember that Sokka and I feel those aren't appropriate implications for my young, underage daughter."

Let no one say Water Master Pakku was slow on the uptake. "Yes, Prince Zuko. I do believe I should ensure that my favourite student and my new wife's granddaughter should not have her honour impugned in the slightest."

Zuko was frog-marched off in a hurry, with a smirking Pakku behind, while his uncle waved merrily and let them cart his nephew away. "Do not be concerned, Prince Zuko," Iroh shouted after them. "I will save you some dinner for when you are all finished."

"Uncle! You traitor!" Zuko shouted. They were his last words before being dumped into an ice-cold pond by the three men.

Sokka grinned. "Just a quick reminder you need to keep a cool head," Sokka said with a grin.

"Why you-" Zuko flung himself out of the water abruptly enough to drag Sokka into it with him. Sokka came up swinging, and within moments they were trying to drown each other.

Somehow, Suki joined in with the wrestling, then Toph came by, "Wow. You really did it this time, Weepy," she said.

"Why Flower Petal, let me help you!" Zuko said with a grin, and yanked his tunic off to use as a lasso to drag Toph in with them, which added bent mud to the fight.

They had all pretty much stripped off their sodden clothes by the time Katara came by and shrieked, "What is wrong with all of you!"

And then they were all dumped out of the pond, sopping wet, but impressively not muddy. "I can't believe you all!" Katara ranted. "We're going to be attacking the Fire Nation tomorrow and you're all here trying to drown each other!" She turned on the gathered older men, shaking a finger at her father. "And you! This is all your fault!"

Behind her back, Zuko exchanged faces with his other friends, silently agreeing that Katara just didn't get it.

"Don't think I didn't catch that!" she snapped whipping around. "Sokka! Go get Appa ready for tomorrow and meet up with the airbenders you're in charge of! Suki, I expect you and Toph to keep him in line tomorrow so I expect you both to straighten up right now. Zuko, you . . ." Katara trailed off, and Zuko suddenly realised he had no shirt on, Katara was one smirk away from open leering at his bare chest, and Hakoda and Sokka were getting angry again. He hastily snatched his tunic up and slipped it on again. Katara shook herself. "You need to talk to your uncle now, it's important. Now everybody _move it_!"

Zuko shuffled off, like all the others, heading in their assigned directions. He made his way to his uncle's tent where the maps that had been used for planning the offensive on Ba Sing Se and the counter-offensive to the Fire Nation had been rolled up and stowed away. All that was left was the modest bedroll, a few bags and one travel board for his uncle's incessant playing of pai sho.

"Uncle? You wanted to see me?" Zuko asked.

"It is important that we speak, Nephew," his uncle said. "It is about tomorrow, when Azula is to be confronted and prevented from taking the throne."

"You'll be dealing with Ozai, Uncle, I know," Zuko said. "I know Avatar Roku told Aang that he had to defeat the Fire Lord –"

Iroh interrupted, looking very weary. The years of grief after the death of Lu Ten, the years of fruitless searching for his nephew, the whole made enterprise of the war had left him drained. For the first time, Zuko thought his uncle looked old. "Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could. It will be the wrong way to end the war." He looked at Zuko earnestly as he continued. "History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord."

It made sense. Zuko had seen far too much of how history was written to propagandise one side or the other to underestimate the kinds of histories that might be whispered in back rooms and secret meetings if his uncle took the throne. "And then… then would you come and take your rightful place on the throne ?" he asked. He didn't say the words that hung silently between them. _As long as Aang makes it back in time and is able to bring himself to do the deed._ He didn't have to say it.

Iroh also chose to ignore the komodo-rhino in the room. What good would asking those questions do? "No," he said firmly. "Someone new must take the throne. Someone who can help unite all four nations. Someone with unquestionable honour."

"Unquestionable honour?" Zuko asked. "I . . . I ran away from everything, Uncle. I spent three years doing nothing but wandering aimlessly and eating Chong's mushrooms and-"

The man who was at one time to be the Fire Lord shook his head. "You have _always_ done what you thought was right. Even when your sister turned you from the right path you found your way back." He leaned forward and clasped Zuko's shoulders in his hands. "You _can_ restore the honour of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko."

How could he turn his back on this confidence? "I'll try, Uncle," he said.

They were both somewhat startled when Katara poked her head in. "So, with the way everything's been going, it looks like I'm coming with you when you stop Azula," Katara told Zuko with a smile.

"I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else," Zuko said. "Except maybe your brother."

"You're not serious," Katara said disparagingly. "What good would he be against your sister?"

"Tactics," Zuko replied, cheerfully needling his girlfriend.

"Shpff," she said. "You don't need that. Anyhow, I don't think you want Sokka doing this," she said, and kissed him.

There was something of a first about this kiss. The kisses they'd shared before the Dai Li and Ba Sing Se had all been friendly, accidental or that one memorable time he was trying to prove her crazy. After Ba Sing Se, he just thought he'd forgotten the first one, and had managed to skip having a proper first kiss. The kiss at Ling's enclave had been born of exploding tension and anger.

This was just, because they both wanted to kiss. Zuko just let the world fade as he sank into the sensation.

A sound a little like a cross between a giggle and a snort sounded behind them. They both turned to see his uncle, looking a little too pleased.

_After much discussion, it was agreed that Zuko, Toph, Iroh and Katara would go to the party. Iroh as Zuko and Toph's grandfather, and acting as a chaperone to Katara and Zuko, who would be pretending to be betrothed. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing," Zuko muttered to his uncle as the man dragged the three kids all over in search of 'Just the right outfits.'_

"_Why, nephew, whatever do you mean?" the man asked with a damnable twinkle in his eye._

"_I mean," Zuko grated out as Katara flitted by, trying on shades of green and white, "That you're trying to set me up with Katara, and I don't appreciate being handled."_

"_Miss Katara is a lovely young lady," his uncle told him, then held up a tunic to himself, preening in a mirror. "You two are an excellent fit, and I do wish you would stop denying it."_

Zuko shot a look at his uncle. "You can just stop gloating," he grumbled.


	14. Agni Kai

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: One more chapter to go. Phew. I probably could have wrapped this up in one, but you've all been waiting long enough, I'm giving you guys the climax now. I have a note at the end, due to the spoilery nature of it, so check that out. Also at the end will be my current list of various requested PoV one-shots for my follow-up. Thanks for your patience.

* * *

After everything that had happened, all the adventures, excitement, discoveries and mayhem of the past year, it somehow felt like things were happening too quickly now. Like the final confrontation should be further off.

But in the end, it took very little time for them all to organise, to say his goodbyes to everyone and wish luck to them. Strangely, he almost felt like he'd stepped from that first moment he saw Shuga cuddling with Appa at the Southern Air Temple to climbing aboard Appa to face his sister in a fight for the throne itself.

"It feels . . . weird," she said from behind him.

It was enough of a non sequitur that Zuko frowned at her. "What does?"

Katara gestured around them, a little vaguely. "All this. Going to defeat your sister, Sokka going to lead the troops to prevent Ozai from destroying the Earth Kingdom, your uncle taking back Ba Sing Se. All of it."

"I was just thinking about that," he admitted. "I was just thinking that it felt like it was only yesterday I met you all at the Southern Temple."

She nodded. "Like something more should have happened? That there should be more to this than just . . ."

When she paused, Zuko nodded himself. "More than just flying into the capital and proposing an agni kai with my sister," he finished.

Katara seemed to contemplate something for a moment, then crawled over the saddle to his side and curled up against him, fitting her head under his chin and wrapping her right leg around his left. Automatically, Zuko brought his arms around her and pulled her close. "We _will_ win this," Katara told him. "Even if Aang can't defeat your Dad, he gave up the title of Fire Lord. He isn't anymore, and once you've taken back the crown he won't have a nation to back him."

"I hope it's that easy," Zuko told her.

She sat up enough to look him firmly in the eye, and said, "It will be, because you're going into this planning to win, not expecting to lose. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, dear," Zuko said with a small, teasing smile.

She smiled back and lay back down. The rest of the flight passed in silence, Zuko just trying to keep himself focussed on winning and not on his fear that Azula would prove herself eternally right and better than him. Again.

Then they were landing, interrupting the sage as he tried to crown Azula the new fire lord. To her side, chained up, was Aiko. His older sister had been dressed in the robes of royalty, her hair in a topknot with the small flame crown that was the symbol of her position as princess of the Fire Nation. Aiko was standing to the side, looking at Azula with some strange combination of yearning, pity and anger.

"What are you waiting for?" Azula demanded of the man who had stopped, shocked, at the sight of the giant six-legged furry animal landing in the courtyard. "Do it!"

Zuko leapt off Appa, aware of Katara following a step behind him, letting him take the lead on this. "Sorry, but you're not going to become Fire Lord today, little sister. I am." Suddenly Zuko understood the look on Aiko's face. The normally sleek and well-turned-out appearance of his younger sister was nowhere to be found. Her hair looked like it had been sheared off by a knife-wielding maniac, the face paint she should have been wearing was nowhere to be seen, and her eyes were darting back and forth as though tracking the movements of opponents invisible to everyone but her. Under her eyes, dark circles contrasted sharply with her pallor. Everything about Azula bespoke madness and Zuko wanted to stop it. To take her somewhere to make her better.

Her head tilted and the slightly crazy smirk as she replied told Zuko this was going to the bitter end. "You're hilarious," Azula told him.

"And you're going down," Katara said from behind him. Her hand reached forward and squeezed his comfortingly.

"Please!" Aiko tried. From Azula's eyeroll, she'd probably been trying for a while. "You don't have to do this! Either of you!"

Azula ignored her. "Wait. You want to be Fire Lord Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni kai!"

"You're on," Zuko said easily.

His younger sister grabbed a chain she was clearly using as a leash on their older sister, and carted her off to a courtyard. Zuko followed.

"What are you doing ? She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both so she's trying to separate us," Katara hissed as she trailed after the three siblings.

He turned to her, willing her to understand. "I know. But I know I can take her this time," he said firmly.

She wasn't buying it. Not that he blamed her. "But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula."

They had arrived at an arena that had filled his nightmares and fears for so long. An agni kai. He hadn't been in one since his father had declared him a public disgrace. But this wasn't that arena, Azula wasn't his father and this time he was going to win. "There's something off about her," he told Katara. "I can't explain why, but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt."

He stared at her, pleading with her to understand.

Slowly Katara back away and went to stand beside Aiko.

Azula could have been carved from ice. She looked about ready to shatter as she crooned, "I'm sorry it has to end this way, Zuzu."

He settled into a ready position, waiting for her first strike, and replied. "I know you are."

Her face crumpled for an instant before the indomitable will that had turned her from a talented bender to a force of deadly proportions reasserted itself. Her opening stance was more complex than his, and she held it a moment. Then her hand swept around and up, blue flame flying true from her palm towards him.

Zuko reacted by slicing his way through with his own red fire, and sent out his counterstrike. They ranged back and forth, Zuko using every strange and unusual style he'd learned from airbending to duck and dodge around her, rather than to confront her head on. She blocked him and attacked at every turn. His whole world narrowed to the fight with her.

"No lightning today?" he taunted.

"Oh, there will be lightning today," a familiar voice said from behind him. From nowhere, lightning speared out of the sky. Zuko, with reflexes he hadn't even known he had somehow caught it, redirecting it in Azula's direction. She dodged, but it caught her across the legs, disabling her.

Well, with that injury the agni kai was over, Zuko thought. A disabling strike like that was considered an end to the fight, traditionally. They didn't _have_ to be to the death. He turned around to see a shocking sight. His mother had been the one to create the lightning. "How . . ." he asked her.

The look on her face was a distinct echo of Azula's. "Have you never wondered how true lightning comes about?" she asked. Her hands flew into the air, and the whirlwind she created flew up into the clouds reflected the blood-red light of Sozin's Comet. Coming from the clouds themselves, a bolt of deadly energy came down and landed in the courtyard. Zuko dodged away to avoid the chips of stone sent flying by the impact.

"Enough mother!" Aiko shouted, running into the centre of the yard. "We've won! Zuko can now be crowned Fire Lord."

Ursa stared at her eldest child as though she was a stranger. "You're siding with them? With the monsters?" Her chest was heaving and her arms flew up again. "No! I will bring the people of air to their rightful place. I am the Fire Lady and I will destroy Fire Nation from the inside out! The throne is mine!" Her voice rose to a scream and lightning hurtled out of the sky, splashing into the courtyard again.

It struck the roof nearby, sending tiles flying everywhere, some of them slamming into Aiko with brute force before she could even think to dodge. "No!" Katara shouted. She flung herself towards Aiko, who Zuko could see was bleeding. It was pooling around her head and neck on the stone beneath her. That was when he realised that, while Ursa could somehow call lightning down from the clouds, unlike a firebender, she had absolutely no control over it. Lightning was striking all over the city, again and again. He could hear screaming in the distance.

Another strike flew down, heading towards Katara. Zuko flung himself towards her, calling her name. Somehow, she called water from the drains around the courtyard to her aid and a thick bubble ice surrounded her and Aiko, protecting them from the one strike. It shattered the ice, but they were both unharmed. The bolts continued to come, thick and fast, and Zuko found himself unable to do more than station himself beside Azula to redirect the lightning away from his little sister. "Why?" she asked him.

"Because even though we don't believe in the same things, any of the same things, you're still my sister," Zuko told her.

Suddenly her eyes widened. "Zuko! Look out!" She shoved him backwards and the lightning scored its way across his body. He lay there, weak and shaky, unable to pull himself up. He hear Azula snarl and saw her drag herself forward and send a lance of fire at Ursa. "No airbending bitch is going to take the satisfaction of beating Zuzu away from me!" she snapped, and fired again. It was enough to break Ursa's concentration and for Katara to pull away from Aiko and go on the offensive.

Zuko was in awe, even though he felt too weak to move, as Katara flung herself into a deadly dance with his mother. The water spinning through the air clashed with the whirlwinds and air slices his mother sent her way. Suddenly, there was a pause. Long and deadly, it gave Aiko time to pull herself to her feet and stumble to her brother and sister. The three watched as Ursa confronted Katara at the far end of the courtyard. They were facing each other, and Katara was out of water. She had nothing near enough to block his mother. "No," he moaned, struggling to pull himself to his feet, to stop Ursa. Azula was pale and shocky beside him, watching just as avidly, and just as clearly unable to do anything. Aiko was no better than they were. All they could do was watch as Ursa's hands came around, a deadly force gathering with her movements. The gentle air that could turn a blade of grass into a deadly projectile ready to sweep down on Katara, who seemed to be holding something.

Then everything stopped.

Katara's arms came up, and somehow, from the ground beneath her an enormous wave of water erupted into the air, and froze the two women inside. Both of them were stopped, frozen in that one moment in time. He was sure his heart had stopped beating.

Katara had killed herself to save them. "No," he whimpered again. There was nothing else he could say. No other word that encompassed what he was feeling right then. Just . . . no.

"Zuko," Aiko said, a hand weakly pointing at the ice. Inside, around Katara, somehow it was becoming cloudy. He watched in awe as she moved through her element in its solid state as though she were surrounded by water, not ice. Watched her wrap something around his mother's hands, tying her down to something on the floor behind her.

A sharp gesture and it was like the world had started to move again. The water turned to liquid again and splashed downward. Katara knelt gasping on the ground while his mother panted beside her, then started to scream and rave.

His girlfriend came stumbling over, her hands already coated in water as she began to fix the damage created by the rampant lightning. "Are you okay?" he demanded as the strength came back to him limbs.

She smiled. "I'm fine," she told him, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead.

Aiko sighed in relief as Katara's healing hands dealt quickly with her own hurts. "Thank you, Katara." Then she shook her head. "I think I have to take back anything I ever said about air as the superior element. That was amazing."

Katara smiled at her, a little bashful. "I was desperate."

"How did you manage to get that much water so quickly?" Zuko demanded.

She grinned conspiratorially, "There's a drain covered by a metal grill over there," she told him.

Azula snorted. "And here I was impressed that you'd managed to pull water out of the air or something," she said snidely.

Aiko and Zuko both bristled, but Katara's eyes just narrowed. Suddenly, a tree crumbled to dust at the other end of the courtyard and all the grass turned brown as all the water in the plants flew through the air to turn into a terrifying mass of ice daggers, hovering over Azula. "Would you rather I had done that to you?" she asked the princess.

The firebender's eyes were wide for a moment, before a grin crossed her lips. "I _am_ impressed, waterbender," she informed Katara. "What else can you do?" She made a startled noise as suddenly she was yanked upright and into the air by an invisible force.

"What else do you want me to do?" Katara demanded grimly. "What will you make me do?"

"Katara," Aiko said. "Katara, stop."

"Did you really mean it, Zuzu?" Azula asked. "Did you really mean that?"

It took him a moment to understand what she was referring to. "You _are_ my sister," he told her. "What happens to you next is up to you."

Katara had lowered her to the ground, but hadn't let go of her blood. She wasn't taking any chances with the other girl. Zuko wondered briefly how she was doing it, then saw the full moon in the sky, sharing space with the sun. For a moment, he thought he could see a flash of white hair and pale blue eyes in the sky.

His moment of inattention had given Aiko the opportunity to step into the breach. "Come with me, Azula," she said. "Please. I want to get to know you." She knelt beside Azula and gently stroked the mauled hair.

Zuko hadn't seen Azula like that since she was very little. Since before his mother had chosen to treat them both like monsters, him in private, Azula in public. She closed her eyes, relaxing into the affection she'd been denied from everyone. Then her eyes snapped open and she stared at Katara a long moment before her eyes returned to Zuko's. "You win, brother. But only because of your pretty waterbender." She grinned. "You'd better keep her, because I'm pretty sure you don't have anyone else around who's ruthless enough to help you keep the throne." She said to Katara, "You can let go. I'm going with the only person around here who actually likes me. I promise I won't even plot sedition."

Zuko looked at Katara and Aiko. They both nodded. He nodded at them and said. "Fine, then."

As Katara let Azula go, healing her up, he became aware of the audience that had gathered. He realised that there wasn't time for him to indulge himself in any of the emotional breakdowns he wanted. Instead he stood and turned to the crowd, some of whom were fire sages, some of whom were nobles and the rest were various palace guards and servants. "You have heard and witnessed," he snapped. "Princess Azula has given up her claim to the throne in my favour." He stood. "I am now the Fire Lord," he declared.

The sage who had been about to crown Azula the minutes and eternity before he'd arrived to interrupt said, "Well, you will be once we crown you."

Azula was now standing and she rolled her eyes. "Then get on with it. You can have a big public spectacle later. Right now, give the prince the authority to do what needs to be done."

Zuko just stared.

Aiko and Azula rolled their eyes. "Honestly," Aiko told her, "You'd think with our parents he'd be a little less dumb."

"I know," Azula replied with that familiar smirk. "Really, Zuzu, get on with it. Do you want me to be forsworn so soon because you're not taking the throne? It's not like Aiko can have it. Only a firebender can hold the fire throne."

Things moved quickly after that. Zuko didn't even have time for a victory kiss as he began sending orders for troops to pull back and withdraw, drafting letters to be sent to the Fire Nation's Earth Kingdom holdings to begin the process of halting hostilities and releasing prisoners of war back to their home nations.

* * *

Post fic notes: About Ursa's lightning, I'm basing that rather roughly on the various theories about how natural lightning is created. That is, the upset in the air inside of clouds creating electrical charges. I have a theory that bending works at the molecular level (if you want to get all high school physics-y about it) so I think it would be feasible for an airbender to agitate the clouds enough to create lightning. Just go with it. Also, my current list of one-shot AC follow-up requests is as follows:

Iroh's reaction to Toph's potential future husband from before Kuei's ball

Katara's reaction to the Caverns Kiss

Aang's initial reaction to Zuko

Katara/Hama interaction

Zuko lavabending from others' PoV

Azula/Aiko interactions

Others' reactions during Zuko's brainwashing

Katara/Aang scene in Ember Island Players

Hakoda's PoV of Shuga's stuntflying after Boiling Rock

Toph's PoV of snuggling after Zuko returned to the gaang.

Katara while Zuko thought they were dating

Ursa's PoV

Katara when Zuko said she was pretty in Ba Sing Se.

I am still taking requests.


	15. Endings and Beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: You know how I said there was one more chapter to go? Here's the chapter, and . . . well . . . there's an epilogue to follow and _then_ I'll be done. Anyhow, this is pretty much what I should have posted in the last update but didn't have finished.

* * *

It had been two hours since he was crowned Fire Lord, and Zuko had dictated, signed, sealed and sent to be delivered twenty letters to various military officials in the Earth Kingdom requesting that they immediately put a halt to hostilities and pull out, dictated three letters to be copied as many times as needed to various ages of Fire Nation colonies on the Earth continent about packing to return to the Fire Nation and determining treaties and citizenship for those who wished to remain in Earth Kingdom territory. He'd written another couple dozen to naval vessels at sea and their overall commanders of those fleets to pull back and cease their patrols outside of Fire Nation waters and letters to major cities and settlements of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation declaring his intention on unilaterally halting hostilities, while requesting a chance to negotiate peace.

Finally, he began to write letters informing the three enclaves he knew of, informing them of his intention to remove all Fire Nation influence from the islands that had once been the home of the nuns of the Western Air Temple. That land would be returned to the people of air to do with as they wished.

Before he'd had a chance to do more than draft the initial outline of the first letter, Katara came bursting in. "Aang's back!" she shouted. "He said that the entire fleet of airships was taken by the airbenders and they're all coming back to the city."

Zuko startled the secretaries he'd managed to commandeer and raced after Katara to meet Aang. He got to the courtyard where Aang was waiting for them and stopped dead, staring. The boy was grinning, widely. The reaction to killing his father was so unexpected that Zuko blurted out, "Did you eat some of Chong's mushrooms? I know Sokka kept some."

Aang's grin instantly gave way to confusion. "What mushrooms are you talking about?"

"Nevermind," Zuko said hastily. Best not to give the most powerful person on the planet something to eat that caused hallucinations.

"Actually," Katara piped up, "I'm a little surprised too, Aang. I thought you'd be more . . ." she paused, then ploughed ahead. "Upset after killing the Fire Lord."

"Oh!" replied Aang with a cheery smile. "I didn't kill him."

"_What!_" rang out four voices across the courtyard. Aiko had claimed a sort of responsibility, custody and sponsorship of Azula, and the pair had clearly come in response to the news of the Avatar's arrival.

Azula responded first. "Well, Zuko, it's been nice these past couple days. I'll go inform the sages that we're going on the run in exile together."

"How . . . what . . . Aang!" Zuko sputtered. What were they going to do? Sure he'd taken away Azula's right to the throne during that disaster of an agni kai, but, "How am I going to wrest power away from my father?"

"I think we can deal with that," Katara told him. "After all, you father gave up the throne to Azula voluntarily for this imaginary Phoenix King title, right? He's essentially abdicated," she suggested. "It should be enough to rally people behind, right?"

The grin on Azula's face was still a little disturbing, but she threw a companionable arm around Katara's shoulders saying, "This is why I like your waterbender, big brother. I can respect her."

"I didn't have to kill him!" Aang shouted. He spoke hastily overtop of their responses. "I took away his bending!"

They all stopped dead and stared at Aang. "You . . ." Zuko didn't know what to say.

"What good does that do?" demanded Azula.

"No one who's not a firebender can hold the fire throne," Aiko said. "So he _can't_ regain power." She looked a little doubtful of this outcome as well.

It focussed his mind enough for the new Fire Lord to snap, "Aang, do you remember what I told you about the lies the Fire Nation tells its people? We'll be lucky if they don't all rise up in protest over your high-handed handling of things! He'll become a martyr without even dying. My father is too dangerous and persuasive to be allowed to speak with anyone. He's manipulative-"

"I should know," Azula added. "He taught me everything I know."

Aang was looking more and more upset as they discussed the problems arising from letting Ozai live. Aiko was adding, "Everyone knows he used to be a bender. That would be enough for him to reclaim the throne anyhow. It's not like he wasn't, it was just taken from him."

A determined voice cut through their discussion. "Not if we twist this just right," Katara said. She turned to Azula. "How about this? We make him into a symbol of proof that the spirits disapprove of what he's done, and gave Aang the ability to take away his bending in order to humiliate him."

"It could work," Azula said, her agile mind already finding ways to twist the truth.

"But they didn't," Aang protested. "I learned it from a lion turtle in the spirit world. I think anyone could learn it if they were a strong enough bender and-"

"You've caused enough trouble already," Katara snapped. "Azula, the main thing is that we can't afford to lie on this. It has to all be implicit."

"Sokka thought I did good," Aang sulked.

Katara and Azula huffed in unison and strode off, already composing a speech for Zuko to give the crowds that were gathering in the city to find out what had happened. Aiko watched them leave, then sat down on a bench, gesturing at Aang to join her. "Aang," she began, "The problems here are twofold. The first is that the people will only see that an invading force has disarmed and imprisoned their leader." Aang opened his mouth, but Aiko raised a hand to forestall his response. "You've _taken away his bending_, Aang. Do you understand what you've done? You ripped away a part of his identity, his self. Imagine how you'd feel if someone took away your bending."

"But he was going to hurt people," Aang protested, ducking the question.

Zuko had calmed considerably now that he knew he had Aiko's support in explaining this to Aang. "Aang, remember what I told you. The people in the Fire Nation don't know he was hurting people. What they've been told is that he's been protecting them. You've stripped them of their protection, and every bender on the islands is going to be terrified that they're next."

"But I wouldn't-" Aang protested.

"Do you know how many benders there are who will say they'd rather die than give up their bending?" Zuko asked.

"Aang," Aiko said gently. "I know that you hate hurting people and that you did this so that you wouldn't have to kill. But people are going to see the humiliation and not the kindness." Something that sounded like a small riot erupted inside the palace. Aiko looked up and sighed. "I'd better go deal with that. It sounds like Katara and Azula have gotten into another fight over how to treat the palace servants."

She hurried off, leaving Zuko with a much-downcast Aang. "I just . . . I don't think I have the right to choose who lives or dies," Aang said despondently. "I'm the Avatar, not a court of law."

Zuko joined him on the bench. "I know Aang. And you know that none of us wanted it to come to this. It's just . . ."

"I know," Aang told him, looking even more depressed. "I had a responsibility and I fell down on the job. Again."

He looked so sad, Zuko couldn't scold him anymore, deciding he'd leave that up to the adults from the White Lotus society to do. "Hey, it's okay. It's also pretty damn impressive that you managed to beat him without having to kill him."

"Really?" Aang asked.

Zuko smiled. "Really." Then he frowned. "You learned how to do it from a lion turtle?"

"Yep," Aang said cheerily.

"Why did I get the evil tiger seal of doom when I was in the spirit world, and you get a helpful lion turtle?" Zuko asked.

"Aang's just special that way," Sokka said from behind them.

Zuko turned, grinning, and saw Toph, Suki and Sokka all looking fine. "You're all right! What happened?"

Sokka's eyes lit up. "It was amazing!" he enthused. "The airbenders were just all, 'Fwish! Hah! Voom! Waaahh!' They just totally took over those airships!" As he spoke, Sokka's arms flailed to suit action to sound effect.

Suki was giving her boyfriend an amused look. "Toph was pretty amazing too. She ripped out the floor and made it into armour on the spot," she told him.

Grinning, the earthbender told him, "It was my job to actually stop the firebenders. Twinkletoes has his work cut out for him, training all the airbenders to do their bending right."

"Says the girl who learned how to bend by pretending to be a badger mole," Zuko told her. "Of course, you smell like one, so they probably just thought you were a midget."

Suki shook her head, then stifled a laugh. "I think Katara might be right about you two," she told them. "Really, is it so hard to say that you were worried and you're glad everyone's okay?"

He turned to her. "Suki. I was worried about you and Sokka, and I'm very glad you're both okay." He turned to Sokka again. "Especially you, what with your penchant for throwing yourself off of airships."

"Hey! I didn't even do that on purpose today!" Sokka replied.

"Great going," Toph said. "All that about not wanting Zuko to know and you just blurt it out."

He'd almost lost Sokka. Just like before at the Northern Air Temple. With a wrench, Zuko brought himself under control. "So you really do have a falling from heights death wish," he said to Sokka.

"I do not!"

"You're not fooling anybody, you know," Toph told him. "You wanna burst into tears and hug him."

Sokka's eyes were wide and he backed away. "There won't be any hugging. Especially not in front of my girlfriend."

"Why?" Zuko asked, smiling in spite of himself. He really ought to be going back to his letter-writing and let the enclaves know it was not only safe to live in the open again, but that they could certainly reclaim their old temples. But this was too tempting. "Are you not certain enough in your manhood to hug? I'd be a little nervous too if my girlfriend made me wear a dress."

"It was a warrior's uniform!" Sokka shouted.

"That's designed for women to wear, and it has a skirt and-"

"When did Snoozles wear a dress?" Toph asked, perking up.

"I'm gonna go see Appa," Aang said, realising that he really wasn't needed right then.

By the time Katara, Azula and Aiko had arrived back in the courtyard, Aang was long gone and there was a four-way wrestling match going on between Sokka, Zuko, Toph and Suki. They were suddenly blasted apart by a combination of air and water. Zuko never found out what happened to everyone else, because Aiko had two fingers pinching hard on the cartilage of his ear, and dragged him off, lecturing the whole way about the dignity of the royal family. The sound of a similar lecture from Katara aimed at her brother, Suki and Toph faded into the background.

Azula followed, laughing. "Really, Zuzu?" she said in one of Aiko's all-too-brief breaks. "I can't imagine what Mai ever saw in you, let alone Katara."

"What's up with you and her anyhow?" He asked, "Ow. Aiko, please, ow, I'll come quietly."

His older sister let go of him and sent him stumbling without breaking stride. "See that you do," she said firmly.

He scrambled after her, but still turned back to Azula. "Really, I'm curious. You're best friends with her all of a sudden and I'd really like to know if you're corrupting her into quietly killing me."

Oddly enough, Azula paused before answering his question, looking thoughtful. "I can respect her," she said finally. "I can respect her _and_ I can trust her." She looked at him, then continued quickly to forestall the answer on the tip of his tongue. "Katara's not like me," she said, "But where it counts, where I respect her, she's just like me."

"_What!_" Zuko said, staring blankly at her. "How is Katara like you in any way?" He listed points off on his fingers. "She's kind to everyone, trusting to a fault, helpful, optimistic-"

She cut him off. "Optimism is just another way of refusing to admit that you'll lose, Zuzu," Azula told him. "I was better than you because I refused to admit losing was a possibility when I went into a fight. You always expected to lose. Even the first time we sparred you expected to lose." She shook her head at him. "It's why I couldn't respect you. Katara? Katara refuses to even consider that she'll lose. She just steps in and if things look bad, she refuses to give in.

"And when she's fighting for something she wants or believes in, when she's defending something important, there is _nothing_ she won't do." Azula looked at him, a sort of frightening calm and self-assurance in her eyes. "When it comes down it, no matter how much she hates her bloodbending, killing the plants and hurting people, she will do whatever she has to." She smiled a little at Zuko. "It's something she and I share."

He felt a little horrified. What was this lens his sister was seeing Katara through? "Katara would never-"

"Katara would," Aiko interrupted. "Oh, what she considers to be the point where something is necessary isn't the same as Azula's or mine or anyone else's. She's a lot like Aang in that respect. But if Katara had been the Avatar, Ozai would have been dead the day of the invasion because Katara would have let nothing stop her from her _duty_."

An image flashed through Zuko's mind of Azula, broken on the courtyard ground, taunting Katara and being suddenly dangled in the air by Katara's grip on the water in her body. Katara wasn't ruthless like Azula, she just would do whatever was necessary to do what she thought was right. And if that meant she had to kill, she would do it without hesitation.

"Okay, but you're being civil to me now," he said, "What changed?"

"I told you that," his younger sister informed him. "Omashu. For the first time you went into a fight with me refusing to lose." She smiled at the memory. "You were everything I had wanted in a brother at that moment, Zuzu. You were fierce and strong and . . . and I remembered when you were like that before."

"Before?" he asked.

"When were were little," Azula said, slipping an arm into his own. "When I could trust my big brother to protect me from the things that scared me."

He could remember that too. He could also remember when it changed. When Ursa had begun taking him to her enclave and he heard over and over that he was somehow evil by an accident of birth, when their father had seen that Azula was more talented than he was and decided his son wasn't worth his time just because his daughter was a better bender. When they both absorbed their lessons growing up too well.

"I'm sorry," he told her.

"I'm not," she said frankly. "I'm still proud of my achievements. But I can respect you now, and if there's one thing Aiko's explained to me, that's a big part of not being stabbed in the back."

Shaking his head in complete disbelief, he said to Aiko, "I'm really impressed. I guess you were right to stay behind."

"Once I'd convinced her that most people actually don't get betrayed by their friends, she was willing to consider that the betrayals she'd suffered had a little more to do with her attitude and the company she kept," said Aiko. "It's something I learned from Thuan."

For the first time, the three children of Fire Lord Ozai made their way together in perfect amity to the balcony used for making speeches to the public. They thrust a speech at him and Zuko found himself in the unenviable position of trying to sound like he'd written a speech he'd just been handed moments before. He listened to the sages announce him and rapidly scanned the parchment to get some idea of what it was saying.

So he stood, looking down at the crowds amassed in the square and read off the parchment. "People of the Fire Nation, I bring you news of the defeat of the Fire Lord Ozai at the hands of the Avatar. But more than that, I bring you the news that we of Sozin's line have angered the spirits. The hundred years' war was a grave error of our people. The teachings that the Earth Kingdom has been planning an invasion of our shores was a lie. The teachings that the Water Tribes have been ravaging our coastal towns was a lie. The teaching that the Air Nomads declared war upon the Fire Nation and met our armies in battle was a lie.

"I have seen the orders sent by my great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father to raze _our own cities_ to the ground. They did it because they wished to complete the extermination of the people of air, and chose for there to be no witnesses to the deaths of innocent men, women and children by the soldiers of our people."

He paused as shocked murmurs began to circle the plaza. From his balcony he saw some people defiant in the face of what they believed to be lies from a usurping banished prince, some were grief-stricken at the losses all over again and some yet were simply confused. He raised his voice a little more and continued, the paper telling the story of the last hundred years as seen by the world outside the Fire Islands.

Then came the crucial moment, the one that would make or break his years as Fire Lord, and would make or break the acceptance of his people that the war was over and that the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes could be trusted. "I said that the spirits are angry, and I know this, because the Avatar Aang has been granted the ability to remove the bending from the former Fire Lord, Ozai. Rather than simple death, he will spend the rest of his life aware that his actions angered the spirits so, he has had part of his very essence, his firebending taken from him."

The crowd gasped, almost in unison and fell silent. "With this in mind, with the humiliation of the line of Sozin, I have declared that we will no longer fight in this war that was started a hundred years ago! No longer will our ships patrol outside of Fire Nation waters and no longer will our people settle on the lands held by the Earth Kingdom. Even now, our fleet of airships have been repulsed by the Air Nomads, in defence of the Earth Kingdom.

"To foster understanding and a return of the fourth nation to its rightful place, I have already declared that the islands surrounding the Western Air Temple are once again the domain of the Air Nomads, to do with as they wish." He took a deep breath, cursed Katara silently for scribbling at this point, _Tell them something so they'll be nice when the troops and officials arrive in a week_, and hoped he wouldn't mess up.

"In a week's time the forces of the other three nations will arrive here in order to begin discussing treaties. I ask you, my people, to understand that these are not savages, or the enemy, but merely people. People like you who have lost much to this war. I ask that you all help me bring our Nation forward into the kind of greatness and prosperity only peace can bring!"

Somehow, amazingly, the speech worked. Eventually he made his way back inside, the cheers still resounding, and ran straight into Katara. "You're getting better at that," she told him.

"You're a lousy speechwriter, you know that?" he told her, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "Seriously. 'Tell them something'? What was that?"

Sokka loomed up out of nowhere. "It was Katara being crazy. I told you she's crazy. Why you didn't listen to me, I don't know."

"I thought you knew. It's the hair loopies," Zuko told him with a smirk. "Don't you remember?"

"I thought I told you to never make me think of my sister as a girl again," Sokka told him as he dragged Zuko into another wrestling match in the corridor.

"Boys," Katara, Azula and Aiko chorused, rolling their eyes.

"Again," Aang complained, "Why am I being dragged into this? I didn't do anything."

Zuko grinned at his best friend. His _guy_ friend who got guy stuff. "Girls," they responded in the same disgusted tone.

"Excuse me?" Toph asked. "Why are you lumping me in with Sweetness, and Bitchy One and Two?"

Before it could all descend to total mayhem, Zuko's secretaries caught up to them and had him off writing letters and edicts while the others were left to their own devices.

For the next week, he barely saw Katara, who had handily taken command of the palace household, Sokka and Suki, who had handily taken command of the returning army, navy and air force, Toph, who had taken to bullying his finance minister in particular and the other ministers in general, or Aang, who had vanished in short order to begin carrying news to the various enclaves that they now had a sanctioned homeland they could begin to rebuild and nomadic routes they could reestablish.

In fact, he pretty much solely saw his two sisters, because they were the only people who were trained in governance who could actually help him with policy.

Then suddenly his major-domo and staff returned and Katara was forced to relinquish the reins of the palace household ("Except for the despicable lack of formality reappearing in my absence, she did well," the man admitted), Sokka and Suki passed the military back to Zuko's generals (many of who were actually newly appointed to replace the monsters in the old guard), Toph had bulled her way to handpicking someone to handle things the way she thought they should be done (Having developed a twisted sort of love-hate friendship with Azula in the process that resembled her friendship with Zuko more than a little) and Aang had come back at the head of a contingent of airbenders bent on meeting the new Fire Lord themselves.

The amassed crowds of people of all four nations were gathered in the square to see Zuko's second, somewhat more official, coronation. He was waiting for his cue to step out and address the crowds when a familiar face appeared. "Mai! You're okay!" he said. Habit reared up for a moment, and Mai noted the abortive step forward he took.

"I see the Dai Li's work hasn't totally worn off," she said with a wry smile.

Zuko looked at her a little sadly. "You know," he said, "If my memories hadn't been so fractured when I caught up with the others I'd probably be kissing you right now."

"Don't try to make me feel better," Mai told him. "You're not really good at it."

He chuckled. "I know. But it's the truth. Katara and I weren't dating until after I thought we'd already been dating."

"You always were entirely awkward," she told him affectionately. "I'm sorry too."

They stood, staring at each other.

"Toph, would you . . ." Azula said, gesturing in Katara's direction. The stone floor leapt at the earthbender's command, and the princess said, "Would you two kiss goodbye or whatever you're going to do so that we can all know you've done it and get on with our lives?"

He wanted to, badly. He did wonder, because Mai had been a great girlfriend. She was funny, supportive in her own way and a magnificent sparring partner. It didn't hurt that she was just as fit and pretty as Katara. Then he looked at Katara, whose eyes promised death to Toph, Azula and him as well if he actually kissed Mai, and said in unison with his ex, "No."

Toph let Katara go, and she told him, "Good choice." Then she turned to Mai. "You too. You know I'd've had to kill you if you'd gone through with it."

Mai nodded. "I know. If our positions were reversed I'd be the same." She smiled at Katara. "Just keep an eye on him. He needs a keeper sometimes, you know?"

"I know," Katara told her with a grin.

"Why does everyone say that?" Zuko complained.

"Because you do, buddy," Sokka told him, slinging a companionable arm around his shoulders.

"You're just lucky I have to give a speech," Zuko told him. "Or there'd be a bruised Water Tribesman heading for the healers right now."

Then he stepped out for his speech to the sound of Sokka muttering, "You wish."


	16. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, in fact a lot of the dialogue will probably be cadged straight from the show itself, which means I own even less.

Author's Notes: It's finished! Yeah, it was a long wait for so little, but this is an epilogue, and I really didn't want to go crazy. More to the point, this stops in the same place the original series stops. So, I want to thank everyone who's been reviewing, you are all awesome, everyone who's been favouriting this or setting it on alerts, also awesome. And now, on to the epilogue.

* * *

The next couple weeks were a mess of politics, treaties and finally travel to Ba Sing Se to have the final negotiations in a city where most of the people in the upper rings were completely unaware that there had been a war, the security was practically airtight and King Kuei was willing to be a neutral mediator who didn't have resentment toward the Fire Nation or any previous connections to any of the other parties.

The fourth night Zuko stayed in the palace, he was woken in the night by shouting from outside, and discovered that Shuga had ignored all common sense and had come to visit him. Smiling, he bounded down the hallway to where Shuga was deliberately making a nuisance of herself, stomping around the courtyard, while Appa hovered protectively. "Shuga! What are you doing here?" he asked, promptly climbing on top of her to scratch her back.

An incredibly irritated rumble was his reply, and she rolled onto her side, then glared at him.

Then he realised what the problem was. "I'm sorry. I haven't had any time to get to see you, you know."

She pointedly looked at him, then at Appa, then back again.

"Appa can sleep all day if he wants to, and he certainly doesn't have to be awake to negotiate with angry diplomats intent on destroying the Fire Nation in revenge for the depredations of a century," Zuko retorted.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him a moment longer. Then she sighed, rolled back onto her side and looked pointedly at him.

"You're just here for scratches, aren't you?" he asked. "What? Are the benders in the Ba Sing Se enclave not spoiling you enough?"

She hummed happily.

"Seriously," came Sokka's voice from behind him, "It's the middle of the night, Shuga. Did you have to wake _everyone_ up? Some of us were sleeping."

Aang, with his inexhaustible supply of energy arrived on the scene and smirked at Zuko. "So, what was that about Shuga forgetting you?"

Zuko loftily ignored him, turning to Appa. "Why did you let her fly over anyhow?" he asked. "You know she shouldn't be travelling any distance in her condition."

The look the male bison gave him was utterly incredulous.

"Shpff," Katara said from behind him. "She's pregnant, not sick, Zuko."

A sad-sounding rumble came from behind him. Zuko turned to see Shuga looking sadly at him. "Well," he defended, "You shouldn't be risking it." She looked even sadder. "Of course I missed you, Shuga, I'm just worried about you." Even bigger, sadder eyes. "I want you to stay with me, of course I do, but you should be with a proper herd and with proper bison midwives." If he hadn't known bisons didn't cry, he'd have thought she was going to. "I . . . Okay. You can stay with me at the palace or wherever you want. But I expect you to be _careful_."

Shuga perked right up and licked him. Then she looked at Katara, and one eyelid slowly dropped in an entirely human wink.

Zuko whirled on his girlfriend. "Did you teach her that?"

"Maybe," Katara told him with an unrepentant grin.

By now, all the various delegates had come out into the courtyard. The regional leaders of several Earth Kingdom fiefdoms and Chief Arnook were all staring at Zuko. As he realised how much the centre of attention he'd become, Zuko stiffened, putting on the royal mask he'd spent so much time cultivating. His attempts at dignity were completely destroyed when Shuga decided to lick him.

He sighed, and just let himself droop in sheer disappointment that no one was ever going to respect him. "You're just so adorable," Katara told him.

"Just what I've always wanted," he said with a sigh. "To be adorable."

* * *

In the end the treaties were negotiated and signed to no one's satisfaction, which everyone agreed meant that they _had_ to be fair because only the actual diplomats liked them and everyone else felt they were unfair without agreeing on what points they _were_ unfair. So Zuko was able to visit his uncle's brand new tea shop and relax with everyone.

Sokka made a drawing that looked like Shuga had been the one holding the brush, everyone made fun of him for it, and Zuko watched it all feeling like it was just a dream that things had come to this point. That was when he noticed Katara and Aang were missing. He had just enough time to get a sinking feeling, as they came slipping back in together off the balcony before Katara was next to him, cuddled under his arm.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her.

She looked a little sad. "I just . . . Aang had just been hoping that you were a phase I was going through," she explained. "I think he's about ready to really let go now."

As they watched, Ty Lee arrived at their party late, bounded over to Aang, kissed him on the cheek and pretzeled herself beside him. The boy turned bright red but something about him indefinably lightened as he started to talk to the acrobat. "I think he's more fine now," Zuko noted. They were joined a moment later by Azula, who asked, "Where's Aiko?" With a sudden thud, a broom closet door opened, and Aiko fell out, on top of Thuan, joined at the lips. "Oh, ew." Azula said, looking nauseated.

"Seconded," Zuko told her. "Aiko! Take your boyfriend and do that where decent people don't have to watch!"

"Okay!" Aiko said, and the two of them raced into the night, giggling.

Azula shook her head. "I didn't ever need to imagine . . . Mai!"

He whipped around to discover that his ex-girlfriend had perched herself on top of Teo and was making out in the corner. "What?" Mai said. She looked oddly exultant. "He's just so _interesting_." Then she gave that half smile that passed as a grin for her. "Tell me more about these wind engines." As Teo started lecturing, Sokka joined them, chattering away on the topic while Suki rolled her eyes and drew Azula into a discussion about battle tactics, which turned into comparisons of fighting styles as Katara joined the conversation. Aang and Ty Lee were already practically dangling from the roof as they competed to out-gymnastic each other so Zuko went and joined his uncle.

"Ah, Zuko, I have not had much time to talk with you this evening," Iroh said. He smiled. "Would you join me in a cup of tea and a game of Pai Sho?"

Toph butted in. "You promised you'd teach me," she complained to the older man.

"And so I shall," Iroh adapted easily. He pulled out a board made of marble with small stone markers instead of the usual wooden ones. "But perhaps you will allow me a game with my nephew as a demonstration?"

"Great. Whip his butt," Toph declared, after quickly testing to see if her earthending sight would work on the pieces.

So Zuko sat down with his uncle and played a game of Pai Sho over tea.


End file.
